


Chooser of the Slain

by Rutkowski



Series: Outlawverse [2]
Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Norse Religion & Lore
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Humor, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bechdel Test Pass, Canon LGBTQ Character, Canon Lesbian Character, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence, Complete, Dawn Summers is The Key, Despair, Diary/Journal, F/F, Fix-It of Sorts, Hellmouth (BtVS), LGBTQ Character, Redemption, References to Norse Religion & Lore, Season/Series 07, Self-Hatred, Social Anxiety, no betas we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:35:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 40,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27675455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rutkowski/pseuds/Rutkowski
Summary: Covers S7 of Buffy and one certain storyline in S4 of Angel.Lighter on the heaviest angst from Part 1 but far from completely removed from it.I have no beta and I'm not a native English speaker so any corrections and constructive critique of my language is welcome.As before, Willow is often an unreliable narrator when it comes to past events and the descriptions reflect that aspect of her. Nobody is 100% objective.***PART 1 SPOILER RECAP***AU where Tara is alive, Tillow is active and they live with their buddy Faith, not very friendly with Scoobies anymore(except Dawn)Buffy is growing distant from friends, live with Xander(platonic) and DawnRack, Warren and Spike are all deadWillow is pretty fucked up in the head following Wrecked and the resulting homelessness, isolation and starvation. Oh, and the very recent kidnapping by Amy and Rack.tl;dr Everyone feels bad and have a bunch of issues and anxieties and some handle them better than others
Relationships: Faith Lehane & Tara Maclay, Faith Lehane & Willow Rosenberg, Faith Lehane/Dawn Summers, Tara Maclay & Dawn Summers, Tara Maclay/Willow Rosenberg, Willow Rosenberg & Dawn Summers
Series: Outlawverse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023291
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	1. September 24, 2002

**Author's Note:**

> I should probably clarify something.
> 
> Part 1 is more of a character drama, with focus on Willow's anxieties, trauma and her attempts to recover from them.
> 
> Part 2 is still rooted in that idea but with more of a plot that involved the Buffyverse. It also explore how the characters we know from S6/S7 could develop if the group dynamic had some changes. In particular, what if Willow finally realized the other Core Scoobies never really trusted her and kept giving her shit and then got mad when she didn't react well to it, leading to her trying to live a life less completely reliant on them? How would the others be without the "spirit" of the group constantly covering their asses? How would she be without the other Core Scoobies, for good and for bad? And finally, how would Faith react to her oldest enemy reaching out to discuss similar trauma and pain?
> 
> If that's not for you, then part 1 works well as a standalone work. I'd really appreciate if you check out part 2 too, though, because I'm quite happy with how it has turned out.
> 
> So yeah, that's why the styles of the two parts are different even if I try to keep it to my idea what my basics are. I felt that I didn't want to have my characters treading water and rehashing the same stuff without any hope of a brighter future, we got enough of that in the real world.

"Thank you for coming, miss Summers. I realize this is quite irregular and I hope I haven't disrupted your work schedule."

Buffy laughed in her head. 'Oh no, I can't spend another full day doing the world's most mind numbing and soul crushing job at the Palace. Woe is Buffy!' She smirked at her mental wit and realized that the principal was staring at her, expecting a response.

"Oh, sorry. Yes. I mean no, you haven't disrupted my work schedule. I had today off anyway and wanted to support my little sister on her first day at the new Sunnydale High."

The dark man nodded solemnly and opened the folder that was positioned on the desk in front of him.

"Ah yes, your sister. Dawn Summers, age 16. You're her legal guardian and an alumni from the old Sunnydale High. You have quite a reputation amongst the students and teachers here, being designated Class Protector of the very last class ever to graduate before the gas explosion. I realize that must've been quite traumatic for a young woman on the cusp of adulthood, correct?"

She was a bit wigged at the direction of the meeting. She had figured she was brought in for a stern warning about Dawn's records as her grades and attendance had several dips last fall semester. She did not expect to be the subject of the discussion and did not appreciate principals, or school administrators in general, digging into her past and private life. That road lead to badness.

"Yeeeaah, it wasn't at ALL what we expected. The speech and the screaming and the mayor and the death and the explosion..." Her mind wandered a bit before she refocused. "But it's all better now! We all handled it well with the talking about it and processing. Many of us went to college in the fall, too!"

He turned back to the notes in front of him and checked the records. "Yes, you did. You finished the first year but dropped out in the middle of your sophomore year after" He turned the page and continued. "the passing of your mother, is that correct?"

Okay, now she was miffed. 'Why am I being treated like a suspect in a criminal prosecution with the leading questions and the background check and college records,' she thought.

"Okay, that's true, but I don't see how that's any of your business really. What's this meeting about, anyway? I thought we were here to talk about Dawn's future?"

His expression softened considerably and he closed the folder in front of him, lifting his gaze to her in the process.

"My apologies, miss Summers. I believe I've been less than clear on my agenda for this meeting. I'm not here to discuss Dawn, I'm here to offer you a job."

'Wait, what?'

"Wait, what? A job where? Cafeteria? Because I'm currently in what could loosely and generously be defined as the food business and it's really not something I'd like to build a career on. And to be honest, it's probably not something I could build a career on if we go by the Palace's history of health code violations."

For the first time since she met him he displayed something of a smile. He was charming of sorts, not like the principals of Buffy's past.

"No of course not. I believe your talents are being wasted in the fast food business. I'd like to offer you a job as a guidance counselor for the kids here."

She arched an eyebrow and stared at him, puzzled. "And I think I'll have to be repeato-girl now and go wait, what? You did take notice of the dropping out and the lack of experience and why am I trying to talk you out of hiring me? Principal Wood, when can I start!"

He stood up and extended his hand to seal the deal with a handshake and a huge smile.

"Well then, welcome aboard Buffy. And please, call me Robin. You can start on Monday!"

  
***

  
Tara, Willow and Faith relaxed on the balcony during the warm fall evening, as was usual for the trio these warm days. Willow sat on a chair with Tara in her lap while Faith had moved hers to the edge of the balcony so she could smoke without being too much of a bother for her housemates. She had just ignited what she claimed would be her last cig of the day when Tara decided to change the subject from the casual discussion tomorrow's plans to something more urgent.

"So Faith, how long have you and Dawnie been together?"

Faith choked on the inhaled smoke, causing a coughing fit that made her bend over. The cough was real but she was not above using it to buy some time to formulate a response to appease their curiosity.

"And don't try to deny it either. You might be proficient in being discreet these days but we were Dawn's parents for several months, we know her tells very well these days."

'Okay, they were putting up a unified front. They've probably gone through and analyzed all the evidence and conjecture and there's really no chance I'll get away with a fib. Fine, they deserve the truth.'

"We've been together as a couple since the evening I returned from the Angel search. We've been sleeping together since three days after that. I do not regret it and I'm not ashamed for it and while she initiated it I did not try to stop her as she is a wicked and mature woman who is able to make informed choices about her own life and body."

'Hah, that took them off-track. Red had probably prepared an entire line of questioning to get me to contradict myself and indirectly admit culpability. Nyeeh on them!'

"That's... remarkably clear, Faith. Thank you. We were just curious as to why you haven't told us about it, did Dawnie tell you to keep it a secret?"

Tara didn't look angry or disappointed at Faith. Just a bit sad, an expression that was increasingly being matched by Willow as she held her around the waist and leaned her backwards for support.

"No suh, she didn't. I actually wanted to tell you but you know... You know B. If she found out she'd lock D-Dog in the basement and likely cut my throat while I was sleeping. We're barely getting along as it is and I don't want that to go all Chelsea. And I love you guys and consider you to be the shit, you know that, but Red here isn't exactly a master of keeping a poker face around B or the Xanman."

Willow couldn't really protest the statement. They knew her tells like if they were their own and the only reason she'd been able to keep quiet about the practice sessions is by letting Tara or Faith present the excuses they used.

"And you know she'd immediately think that I was taking advantage of D-Dog. And I'm not. I'm really not being half-assed here, I'm tryin' to ensure that ma S would approve if she knew about us."

Tara's expression softened and she liberated herself from Willow's grip to force a hug on the notably non-huggy ex-con.

"I know you're doing the best you can for Dawnie. We were just worried we'd given you the impression that we wouldn't approve."

Willow stood up to complete the much loathed Huggy Circle of Housemates, deciding that this was one of the very rare instances where it was warranted.

"Yeah, we're all with the approving here. But as for Joyce, you're boning her daughter. She wouldn't approve until you both were 30 and married. Which is still an improvement of Buffy, she would still be frowny when Dawnie reaches senior citizen status. We'll do our best to keep it on the sneaky side of coupledom. We actually have some experience in that as you were the first one to ever find out about, well, us! Buffy never found out about us until I outright told her and IF Buff finds out, we'll stand by you two. She'll have to realize one day that Dawn is becoming an adult and that you are not the girl she knew back in High School."

The HCH dispersed and Faith glanced at her cigarette, less than half remained without her taking more than a single whiff from it.

"Enough touchy-feely rubbish, I'm sheets. I'll talk to D-Dog tomorrow and inform her that you guys know but trust me witches, things won't be as easy when B finds out. I'll need your help to ensure she doesn't bring down hell on her sis."

Tara smiled and put her arm over Willow's shoulder.

"That's a given, we're with you here. I'm just glad that Dawnie got someone as good as you to share herself with, you know?"

Willow nodded excitedly with a beaming smile as Faith put out her smoke in the ashtray and retired for the evening.

  
***

  
"Hey Fay, you okay?"

Faith almost jumped as she closed her bedroom door. She really should've heard when Dawn entered the apartment.

"Yeah. How much didya hear?"

Dawn hugged her from behind and buried her nose in the nape of Faith's neck.

"Just enough. So they figured us out, big whoop. They're on our side - just as I said they would be - and they'll help us contain the Buffy Bomb when it explodes."

Faith turned around and moved her head to touch forehead with the taller woman.

"Yeah, you were right. Not gonna admit to that under oath but you were. Not an issue for tonight though, the witches are busy with their spells so I don't want to worry about anything except having some happy funtime tonight, okay?"

Dawnie gave her a quick kiss and started to unbutton the denim jacket she wore.

"Five-by-five, Fay. It's all five-by-five."


	2. October 2, 2002

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buffy sees history repeat itself, Anya crosses a line and Tara has a visit from her past

_Finally found you! Tare accidently misplaced you when we were doing some reorganizing follow my return home and I completely forgot that I always have my reliable therapist in the form of Doctor Journalberg, Hightide U alumni with a double doctorate in Willowology and Inanity._

_And girl is it time for you to earn your salary because yesterday was pretty messed up._

_It started with Xander giving us a call early morning. He had brought a woman, Nancy I think he called her, home to the Summers residence after some monster devoured her dog in the middle of the street. It was something huge and she fled into his arms, another one of those fortunate accidents that mean that the helpless almost unavoidably end up in our care._

_I'm not complaining! Without that quirk of fate I might've never gotten to know Tara. Best sprained foot, ever!_

_Anyway, they called us for help. I was in class and Faith was sleeping after a long night's patrol but Tara hurried over to help. She helped them console the poor woman and then joined Xander in escorting her home._

_Just as they arrived at her front door, the monster reappeared. It was a huge worm, at least as big as a schoolbus, who had something out for her. And no, she wasn't an avid fisher who was being haunted by the vengeful spirit of sacrificed worms. I asked after they returned to Buffy's home._

_Long story short, we ended up using Xander and Nancy as bait while we ambushed him in Miller's Woods. I felt bad for her but Xander was a champ and kept her out of danger, excellently._

_This is when the story turned bad, though. After a long and, to be honest, rather rough fight Buffy finally managed to impale it on a heavy spear she had brought along. Problem was that as soon as she killed it he transformed into a man. A regular, human man. Apparently, he had been cursed by a wish idly made by Nancy after he had beaten her for hours. Now, who did we know that granted wishes for jilted women?_

_So yeah, Anyanka is back. And Tara knew. Tara knew and didn't tell us. Didn't tell me. I mean, she had promised Anya not to and I understand keeping her promise but what does she know about hiding a potential demonic danger within our midst aaaaand I just realized what I wrote and yup, no blaming of my Tarebear. Should've seen it before. Gonna go and give her an extra kiss to remind her she is the best._

  
_***_

  
_Okay, that took a bit longer than I planned to. A kiss wasn't enough but I'm not one to complain if my girl want some snuggles. Apparently she had been rehired by D'Hoffryn after Xander left her at the altar and she's been doing some pretty horrendous vengeance work ever since. She's stayed away from Sunnydale until now though, probably because she realized that if she did stuff here then Buffy and Faith would have to act._

_I wonder why she violated that rule but one thing is certain, she knows she is in trouble. She hasn't been seen since she granted the wish and according to Giles she's since been seen in Brazil just before a gang shootout in a favela what killed four people, including a known serial rapist._

_I must say, she's picking pretty deserving victims. I'm not saying it's okay because you know human justice and all that. Also, Nancy fled in panic once she saw it was her ex boyfriend and Buffy just broke down when she realized she had just killed a man, wormy shapeshift or not. She dropped the spear and fled from the scene and nobody have seen her since. She called Dawn later on and said she had to take a couple of days for herself and that she is okay but we're worried about her, even Faith._

_Especially Faith. She if anyone know how it is to accidently end a man that she thought was a demon._

_~~Anya~~ Anyanka is in real trouble right now. She didn't deserve what Xander did to her but by willfully causing the death of townies in Sunnydale she has burned any bridges she had left. Tara is so struck, betrayed that Anya would do this and sad for Buffy. I hate how this city refuse to let us have any peace, how Tara always has to suffer. She is so strong but nobody is invincible._

  
***

  
Tara relaxed in bed, her mind no longer as wound up as it were before Willow had come in for a quick kiss and stayed for the horizontal tango. Her partner had gone back to the dining area to continue her writing that she had accidently halted since she returned to the US. 'Good, it's not healthy for her to keep it all bottled up inside, even that which she does not want to talk about just yet.'

Wearing nothing but a thin sheet she leaned over towards the nightstand and turned off the light, opting to skip brushing her teeth after a mentally draining day.

"Wow, you really lost all respect for yourself after I died, didn't you?"

She froze mid-motion in the darkness. She recognized that voice but couldn't trust her ears.

"M-mom? Is that you?"

A derisive snort was all she got in response at first. The familiar voice returned a few seconds after.

"Who else would it be, the easter bunny?"

Now she was certain and she hurridly stumbled to turn the light back on. At the end of the bed sat her mother. Long and brown hair ran down to her waist and she was wearing a white robe that Tara recognized as one she used for their private religious ceremonies back when she hadn't become bedridden. Back before she died. She wasn't looking at her daughter, instead staring at the wall at the direction of where Willow was seated with her journal.

"H-how did you get here? How are you alive?"

The older Maclay just shook her head in disgust and turned towards her daughter.

"Is that really the questions you should ask? Wouldn't 'do you think my family will forgive me for betraying them' or 'how many times have Willow brainwashed me lately', hun?"

Tara pulled the sheets further up to cover all but her head, her eyes widening in fear as her mother continued.

"Or maybe I should ask you a couple of questions instead. Like, why did you betray your family? Or why did you return to the woman who used magic to control you? Or why you refuse to honor and respect our heritage? Or if nothing else, why have you strayed so far from the path that you fell in with a damned _dyke_?"

Tara nervously turned towards the bedroom door with the last insult as if Willow heard it and would storm in to make everything worse by interrupting.

"You said you were happy for me, that you supported and loved me, when I came out. You said you wanted me to find a nice girl and be free."

Fiona Maclay chuckled but there was no joy in the outburst, only spite.

"What else could I do? I only had one daughter and you were so weak and any kind of refusal would've broken you without any recompense. I couldn't burden your Donnie or your father with a dead weight when they still would have use for you at home. That is, if you had accepted their offer to help with the demon. All you had to do is some housework that you already had down to pat. It's second nature for you so why'd you oppose it, electing to slut around in college instead?"

Tara sharpened her blue eyes and stared daggers at her mother.

"Oh that's just bullshit, Fi. You hated it back home. And I know for a fact that the demon is a myth, I've gotten it examined by three different sources and there's no trace of demonic energy within me. It was a lie to control me, to control us both, and I'm not falling for it any more."

Fi stood up and moved towards the window, seemingly in deep thought before she closed the eyes and bowed her head.

"That's wrong. Your father was incorrected about when the demon aspect would show itself, mistakenly putting it at the 20th's birthday when it's actually the 22nd. That's in just two weeks. You need to call them and ask them for forgiveness, to take you back before it's too late. You must leave this cursed town and never return, run away before you hurt those you claim to love!"

Tara straightened her back and stood up, still covered by the red bedsheet but now displaying an inner strength her mother had never seen when she was younger.

"That's just not true. I've grown in power and I have friends, family, who know more than you ever did. And even if it were true, my mother would never have asked me to go back to those that abused and controlled me for my entire life. I don't know who you are but you are not Fiona Maclay. Who are you?"

Her voice rose as she spoke and as she demanded an answer, the vision that held the appearance of her mother displayed an ugly grin. She opened her mouth to respond as Willow entered the room and entered a defensive stance in front of Tara when she took notice of the intruder.

"I went too far, huh? I see it's not just your magical abilities that have grown over the years, Tara. You both have fun now, for I shall swallow you and all your intrepid friends whole."

Tara froze as she realized the implication, repeating a phrase that Faith had told her that she kept hearing in her dreams recently.

"Beneath you, it devours."

The form of her mother dissipated and reformed into a nightmarish demonic being.

"No, you vermin. _I_ devour."

It vanished in a huge flash that smashed the nightstand lamp to the floor, covering the bedroom in darkness. After a few seconds Tara collapsed in her lover's arms, crying into the shoulders of a very confused woman.


	3. October 8, 2002

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Looking for felines, burning the bridges and streaking the dead.

_To whomever may read this entry, suffer not the grief of my fall and take hope and find wisdom in these words so that you may not falter as I did but instead learn from my mistakes to overcome that which I have not._

_I go towards the ugliest battle in my brief but tumultous life with despair in my heart for I have faced these horrors in the past and have yet been able to find the courage to conquer them._

_Where I should be strong, I am weak. Where I should be courageous, I am craven. Where I should be intelligent, I am slow. Where I should be guile, I am, err, unguiley? Sloppy? Clumsy?_

_Oh pooey, I can't even do proper melodrama. It's a bad sign, I tell you, and an omen that today is not going to end up well. I never should've let myself be convinced by Tara, I should have stood strong and said 'No, I'm not going to. They disowned me and I am not at their beck and call just because they might feel some remorse! I'm a very adult and mature woman who doesn't need any narrowminded and clueless excuses that call themselves my parents.'_

_Except I wouldn't, shouldn't and couldn't. Partly because I'm sitting here in my speckled cow jammies that kind of undercut any grand claim of adulthood and authority but also because of last week's events._

_We still don't know what the heckity took the form of her mom but apparently the villain had copied her appearance and speech to a T, down to verbal and facial ticks. She also knew personal stuff that people who are not Willowy does not. She first worried it was an hallucination and we went to the hospital the day after for a CAT-scan and other stuff to ensure she had no traces of any brain tumor. I knew that wasn't the cause since I saw and heard her at the end but since that's what got both her mom and Joyce in the end we both felt more at ease to do the tests. Logic isn't always what you trust in._

_Then we did a couple of divinations(okay, she did, she's always better with that type of magic) to see if there's some trickster spirit or ghost haunting the apartment building but nothing, we're as unhaunted as unhaunty things are. We also did a cleansing together to see if there was any kind of demonic possession that might've caused it but nothing, we simply do not know what caused it._

_But hey, now I know what Tara's mom Fiona looked like. She was pretty, looked very much like her daughter, and if the saying of mothers and daughters is true I have nothing to worry about in the future! Not like Tara if I start to look like Sheila. Sorry Tarebear, not much to look forward to there._

_Ugh, two hours until we leave. I still need to shower and pick clothes and get makeup and prepare an excuse to bail at the last second and NO! I promised Tare._

_She's been really down since the non-mom did the non-haunting and miss her mom more than she have in a long while. That's why we're visiting Sheila and Ira. They actually contacted me about three weeks ago and invited us to dinner but I refused but now Tara want us to at least make an attempt to reconnect with the people who left me to starve on the street because once they're gone I won't get another chance._

_I never told her that the invitation was for me only. It was only when I called them yesterday and asked if they still wanted to meet that I informed them that Tara is coming and that she will be very welcome. Sheila wasn't happy about that but had no choice but to accept._

_It felt good._

_So yeah, if this is my last entry then I have three final thoughts:_  
_1\. Please delete, without opening it and checking what's in it, the folder on my computer that's called 'Old papers and essays from school.' And yes, in case you're wondering I did in fact convert all those text documents into videos. What's it to you?_  
_2\. Tara, I love you above everything else in this dimension and all others._  
_3\. Tara, I told you we should've stayed home._

  
***

  
The drive to the Rosenberg house was tense. Tara, dressed in a basic but elegant skye-blue dress and with her hair done in a half-up french braid, was the only one talking as she made a continious effort to calm the nerves of her partner.

Willow may have begun the car ride by being nervous but by the time they pulled up to the curb she was almost buzzing out of her seat with nervous ticks and barely contained freakouts. If it weren't for her low-cut sleeveless green dress and curled hair she would've looked like she was just about to go down the drop of the scariest rollercoaster in the world. On a pony. While being chased by frogs. Mounted on spiders. On fire. Speaking latin. In Hell.

When she actually exited the car and joined hands with her girlfriend she calmed considerably. Once her brain actually comprehended that this was happening it switched gears from finding ways things could go wrong to finding ways to ensure the evening went right, or at least passably. She can handle a challenge. In fact, she loves puzzles. And, since she actually didn't rely on her parents for anything but a source of deep-seated anxieties and bitterness there was really nothing she could lose if anything went wrong tonight, right?

By the end of the evening she realized that it was just then she had jinxed the entire evening. Hindsight is 20/20.

The greetings and re-introductions went as expected. Sheila refused to remember Tara's name, calling her Sara every chance she got, and Willow soon realized she did it out of spite. Ira was a lot more willing to try to fix their relationship and the couple both knew that this entire dinner was on his initiative and that Willow wasn't the only unwilling participans.

"So Willow," Ira started, "are you both still living with the Summers girls?"

Willow shook her head as she swallowed the food in her mouth.

"Nope, I moved out back in December and Tara followed me about two months after that. We live downtown right now with our friend Faith."

Tara nodded enthusiastically and kept up their efforts to ensure that she was included in the discussions.

"Yeah but Dawnie visit us very often, we grew quite close during those months we lived with them."

Sheila smirked behind her napkin as she dabbed her mouths to catch any stray traces of the piece of chicken she had just ingested, she had found a sore point to push.

"So dear, why didn't you and Sara move to your new place together? Wouldn't that be more practical instead of splitting it into two different days in two different months?"

By now, Willow had gotten tired of the song-and-dance of snipes and deflections. Tara knew it too but understood that there's a limit to what one can expect to take from their parents. She if anyone in the world got that.

"If you must know, Sheila, it was because I had lost control of my life and driven Tara away. As a result I decided to leave the Summers home and live on the street for a couple of nights until the Sunnydale Motor Inn had a room free for me. After I moved in I spent the days going to class before coming back to that rat-trap where I made several acquaintances with local sex workers, friendly girls that I still help today."

Sheila's eyes grew wide and she dropped her fork in shock.

"Oh, before you ask, I got to know them because I helped them to stay safe when tricks tried to hurt them, or worse. I simply barged in, beat the crap out of the assholes and threw them out and then returned back to my room."

Tara snickered at the Rosenbergs' stunned reactions as Willow unabashedly retold the story of the worst time of her life.

"Anyway, I ate once every day or so in the beginning. One packet of ramen and a bottle of beer, that's all. After the local girls gifted me some money I managed to up that to only missing every third day until Tara found out and helped me out more than I ever deserved." She turned to Tara with a genuine smile and was rewarded with a shy blush. "During that time I reconnected with Faith who was serving 25 to life for murder two. You remember when she was sentenced, right? Well, she's pardoned now by the governor and since I never pressed charges for the time she threatened to cut my throat with a huge knife she is free as a non-jaily jailbird!"

That was the last straw for Sheila. She remembered the story about Faith Lehane, mostly because she was one of very few murderers in Sunnydale who actually got apprehended. Okay, turned herself in but it was still a very rare occurance that a major crime had been solved.

"Then you will move out of there right this moment! My daughter will not live with vagrants and criminals. It's bad enough that you still shame us by refusing to grow up, return to the faith and settle with a man to start a family but I will not let you risk your life for nothing."

Willow slowly stood up, wiped her mouth with the napkin, and leaned forward on the table with her resolve face in full display.

"Your daughter? I'm not your daughter, you made that very clear when you disowned me and threw out the rest of my stuff. And I have lived with 'vagrants' and 'criminals' before and I'll continue to do so. Faith is one of my best friends and it's not like I'm without sin. I've stolen military equipment, cars, tampered with crime scenes, hacked into I-don't-know-how-many government databases, I broke into City Hall and, oh yeah, I helped design and set up the bomb that blew up our old High School. Oh yeah, I also took part of an operation against a branch of the US military that led to the dissolution of their operations but I was actually recognized for that by some general I can't name so I don't think that's a crime."

Tara had by now gotten up and collected her purse before deciding to verbally support her daughter's stance.

"And for what it's worth, Mrs and Mr Rosenberg, Faith have helped us through a very dark time with no expectation for even a thank you. She has provided both of us with a home and helped us get back on our feet after our biological families failed us in every way. I asked, no begged, Willow to come here to try to reconcile with you both but I now see that it was a venture without any hope. We love eachother and support eachother like family should, for better or worse, and if what you wish for Will is the loveless life that you have then I'm glad we have our own family instead. Good evening and good bye!"

Tara opened the front door and waved at her hosts who remained in place. As she left the house, Willow decided to put in one final spiteful snipe, true as it was.

"Oh, and that's our very _lesbian_ family where we both follow paganism. Good bye, Ira and Sheila, please do not bother us unless you come to apologize. I have no use for any more negative energy in my life."

A feel-good movie would have put up the end credits by this point. This wasn't a feel-good movie. They both moved back into the purple pickup truck and drove around the corner before stopping the vehicle just out of sight of the house. When Tara turned the ignition it was as if she shut down the last falter barrier that Willow had managed to maintain during the evening. She had put up a stone-cold exterior but Tara took very careful notice of her walls cracking, revealing the emotional toll of having to realize that her parents would never love her unless she became someone she never would or could be.

They remained in the truck for about half an hour before Tara offered to take them to the Hut for some mochas, an idea Willow felt was the best in ages. She didn't regret that she let Tara convince her to go to the dinner with her parents, now she knew for certain that the burned bridge did not have funding or plans to be rebuilt.

  
***

  
Faith stumbled into the empty apartment with a string of curses. She was dirty, wet, bloody, covered in bruises and her left arm was still recovering from the Gnarl's paralyzing poison. Tracking down and killing the demon had taken the combined efforts of both slayers, Xander and Dawn(who had been invited by Buffy for once as both witches were out of comission and Anya was no longer counted as an ally) and after both Dawn had gotten paralyzed Faith had almost thrown herself in front of the younger Summers daughter to prevent the killing blow, resulting in her getting paralyzed as well.

The Slayer endurance meant that it took more time for the poison to fully take effect, however, and her continued fighting led to Buffy being able to outflank it and kill it by crushing its' eyes, a gruesome effort that splattered more than one would've hoped or expected.

She got a quick shower and left the bathroom, covered only with a towel, when she realized she wasn't alone.

"Hello Faith. I see you've made yourself a home here. Is my little baby here yet or are you taking a break from molesting the child tonight?"

Her blood felt cold as ice as she saw Joyce in the kitchen, her arms crossed and a glare that oozed both motherly disapproval and hostility towards an intruder.

"Well, feck me."

"I rather think you're pushing my very-much-so minor daughter to do so already? I feel like I'm a bit too old for you. On the other hand, you've never been picky with your partners, 'get some and get gone' is more your style."

Faith quickly recovered from her shock and thanked the Powers That Be for her strong memory.

"Oh, I know this one. You're going to try to make me off myself in the morning by showing me all those I've wronged, right? I hope you got a better plan for that than you did with Angel because making me wait for sunlight? Not as effective as you'd expect for those of us in the breathing category."

The individual posing as Joyce couldn't hide its' surprise of the quick turnaround.

"So that stalker and controlling predator is your northern star these days? Not much of an upgrade from your old whoring, murdering and thieving days. One corrupted master for another, is it?

Faith laughed derisively and threw the towel over a chair in the dining area, flipping the bird while buck naked as she moved towards the bedroom.

"Hah, that's the best you got? I really thought the pissah First Evil had more to offer than some half-assed crap I've heard a thousand times before from more interesting sources. Feck, I've told myself worse nightly for years but you know what? I'm over it. That shit is with me but it's the past and I'm the future. And that future doesn't involve impotent tricks like yourself. Get bent and please leave my parlor, I'm sheets."

She shut off the light and closed the bedroom door, leaving a stunned and confused spectral copy of Joyce Summers in the dark.

"Well, that just won't do!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this chapter I accidently completed the NaMoWriMo in less than a week. Never even tried it before so that was a fun surprise!


	4. October 18, 2002

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Foreshadowing, Briefing and Demoralizing

_Three times nine girls, but one girl rode ahead_   
_white-skinned under her helmet, embers so red_   
_the ground was trembling, from her flames_   
_light fell into the helheim gates_   
_hail in the valley of sun_   
_good fortune comes to women from thus_   
_all that I saw was hateful of ours_

_Dear Journal._

_WHAT THE FRILLY HECK!?_

_The last two days have been torment on my already stress-addled mind. I've called back home to Ella and she said she would consult with the seers but couldn't explain how Cassie would've be able to see what they couldn't in the past._

_Okay, I probably need to back away a bit. On Buffy had a student, a Cassandra Newton, that said she was going to die sometime today. After cementing that it wasn't suicide she blew the whistle and both us and the scoobies came together as one, really. No matter our personal apprehensions and hangups we're still able to pull through when a poor kid's life is on the line, feels good. Puts thing in perspective, really._

_We quickly eliminated possibilites left and right. Drunken dad, best friend with stalkerish potential, drug addiction, tendency to sleepwalk into the streets at night. Nothing stuck._

_Buffy made the rather cold-hearted decision early on to get Dawnie to get to know her. I get why but our little girl is crushed now. She grew really fond of her and worked her butt off to help and now she is at her friend Amanda's place consoling eachother over a common friend. Buffy is shaken but I think she is growing colder, she is losing that empathy for others that kept her grounded over the years and no longer treat the Slaying as a calling but a job, a chore. I'm worried for her._

_What happened is that Cassie was kidnapped and offered to sacrifice to the demon Avilas. Another blood-for-gold dig, just like that Machita snake in the frat back in junior year. History doesn't repeat, it rhymes. Me, Faith and Buffy managed to infiltrate the cult and not only killed the demon but saved Cassie. That's good! As I was helping her out, while the Slayers ensured no further attempts would be made by the students, that's when she recited the words above. After that she just turned to Buffy and thanked her before dying on the spot. Her heart just stopped beating as she stood and there was nothing we could do, I still don't know what happened._

_Faith's currently on the balcony with Tara talking about what happened. She didn't get to know Cassie, same with me, but nobody see a kid die in front of them and walk away all unscarry. I'm glad Tara didn't have to see it, she feel everything so much intensey than the rest of us._

_I still see Cassie when I close my eyes. I'm sorry we failed you. I'm not that mad about the unclarity of the poem._

_Time to go to the Box, good ol' Wesley is in town and invited us to meet up for a reunion. Could be fun!_

  
***

  
"Alright, thank you everyone for coming. I'm afraid I got some disturbing revelations in regard of these visions many of us have experienced the last two or three weeks."

The Magic Box was far too crowded than a specialty store had any right to be, especially after closing hours. A tired and scarred Wesley stood behind the counter on a stool and managed to get everyone's attention after a few escalating pleas for attention, his raspy voice being a constant reminder that he was no longer the hapless fool that many of them knew from four years ago.

The Scoobie Gang was seated by the research table in the back. Dawn and Xander sat down, sharing a bag snacks between them, and Buffy halted her pacing behind them as everyone quieted down. Anya was still a no-show after the death of Ronnie and wouldn't be welcome anyway as more tales of her wishgranting had reached the scoobies through the Watchers' Council.

Closer to the shop entrance were the group that Faith dubbed the Outlaws, mostly to annoy Buffy by reminding her of Faith being coinsidered rehabilitated. She wasn't evil but she wasn't a saint and did love to indulge in the vice of Buffy-bothering. Tara was embraced from behind by Willow in support next to Faith who both listened to her former Watcher but also kept guard by the door. Despite all three of them already knowing the gist of the briefing, Tara was still bothered by the memory of her mom being used and tainted to split the group apart. She had been forced to learn early on in her life that the mind wasn't always on speaking terms with the heart.

Next to Wesley stood a blonde woman none of the others had seen before. She glared defiantly at anyone who glanced at her and seemed to almost be cowed by Wesley, never leaving his side.

With everyone's attention on him, Wesley nodded at Justine and inhaled deeply before he began the briefing.

"To begin from the top, Faith here managed to figure out what was going on by remembering her discussions with Angel over the last couple of years. As some of you may know, almost four years ago the ensouled vampire Angel was being haunted by the visions of a few of his numerous past victims. He thought it was the actual ghosts of the individuals in question that were reminding him of his past misdeeds. With the aid of Buffy and her then active Watcher Rupert Giles,"

"And her eternally loyal and clever friends," Xander interrupted with a proud grin.

"Yes, and her friends, indeed. As I was saying, with their aid he managed to figure out that it was the First Evil that was trying to drive him to suicide in order to remove a Champion from the side of the Powers That Be."

Buffy snorted loudly. She knew that Angel didn't figure out shit and that it was she who had stopped the First Evil and its' Harbingers and that if it weren't for her, Angel would've been dust shortly after by his own hands. Obviously, Angel had told the former Watcher a slightly different tale of how the events that christmas played out.

"Well, the First Evil is back. Reports have come in from all over the globe that potential Slayers and their Watchers are being murdered by squads of assassins that witnesses have described in detail, a description that matches up perfectly with that of the Harbingers that Buffy dispatched four years ago. Giles explained to me that there is a harsh denial of the facts within the Council itself that this is a coordinated efforts but that he has recruited a small group of colleagues that share his vision and who are trying to fight back the rising tide."

Willow had to admit to herself that she did not see that development coming, she had underestimated Giles this time as she expected him to either dismiss the claims altogether or if he believed them she thought he'd bow to the Council's demands.

"We implore you all to be very wary of old acquantices trying to feed you information that are damning your friends or allies. If you doubt the veracity of the source, try to establish physical contact with it because after Dawn's experience with one of the events she learned the First Evil cannot establish a physical presence and is completely incorporeal."

All eyes turned to Dawn who withered under the stares. One would've thought she acted empirically when she had her encounter but she and Tara knew the truth. It was her mother who had shown up and been so cruel, so hurtful, that she accidently used a cantrip to send a vase flying at her mother's head. When it passed through and smashed against the wall she had simply ran out of the front door of her home to escape the verbal abuse. She was ashamed for her percieved cowardice and weakness, despite Tara's reminder that there wass few who could reach your weak points as a loved mother figure would.

"There's also some conjecture that the First can only take the form of dead individuals. It seems to rejoice in using lost loved ones such as parents, siblings or mentors to disparage us and question our reality so be very careful and always remember that it only seek to hurt us. Even when it isn't actually lying it's twisting the truth enough that it barely hold any shred of reality anymore."

Buffy stopped herself from nodding as she hadn't told anyone the truth yet. She didn't think the information was entirely correct or she wouldn't have seen Spike for the last week. He might've been technically dead but he was still around, somewhere, and would be out of reach if Wesley was in the right. Faith took out a packet of smokes and dug around for the last cigarette remaining.

"Oh yeah, we in House Lehane got a mad pool going on who's going to be my next hardo Ghost of Christmases Past. I got a twenty on the Mayor being the next tool, Red here got dibs it'll be my first Watcher and T has her cash riding on, well, B over there."

Tara blushed in shame, not expecting that their ghastly bet made in inebriated jest would become common knowledge. Willow covered her mouth to prevent the smile she was hiding from becoming public knowledge while Faith just guffawed at Buffy's offended response.

Buffy started out in irritation until she, as the rant went on, realized the implication that she was held in a lot higher esteem with the other Slayer than she thought and soon the rant died out in a few mumbled insults as she let the rest of the gathering's loud discussions overtake her on the floor.

"Twenty on it being that professor dude."

"No way mister, it gotta be Mrs. Summers!"

"Nah, it was Joyce the first time, the Big Bad gotta know it need a new angle."

The bidding and shouting continued for a while until Wesley asked for silence so he could restore order.

"That's quite alright, everyone. We have a lot more to worry about than some ill-adviced bets made in the face of psychological terror and private fears."

Most of the room looked down in various degrees of shame and worry.

"Besides, it's obvious that it will be Angel that is her next visitor. Who else to try to mislead but the moral guide that Faith employ?"

He couldn't hear any of the responses over Faith's laughter and the room once again erupting into numerous concurrent discussions.

  
***

  
"Oxford is wrong, you know? It won't be Peaches that'd show up for Faith because Peaches isn't dead for good."

Buffy ignored Spike's interruption of her patrol as she dodged the jab by the fledgling in front of her before finishing the fight with a stake delivered from an upward angle.

"It was a good move to not mention it, pet. They wouldn't believe you anyway, not without proof. It's not like they respect you much these days anyway, they're all moving further and further away. It's been like that ever since Faith came back, hasn't it? Once Red turned coat they all followed one by one."

She sighed in frustration.

"If you have to bother me every time I go on the hunt can't you at least help out when they attack? Or at least, not try to distract me as I fight?"

He jumped down from the roof of the mausoleum and shrugged.

"I don't see why you need any help. Nothing but crap fledges around ever since that other household started their own patrols. Hey, maybe you can finally retire? Bronze that stake of yours and take up knitting instead!"

She glared at him and started to get closer to him before he backed away, maintaining the distance between them.

"Wasn't that want you wanted, luv? Or have you changed your mind again? You really need to get a grip on that one of these days."

She turned her back to him and threw her hands in the air.

"I swear, it's like talking to a wall. What happened to you, you used to be able to give me a lot more clear answers. Now it's like you're not even there except to annoy and torment me!"

She turned around to accusingly point her stake at him only to she realizes she was all alone in the cementary.


	5. October 24, 2002

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anyanka's return, Secrets Revealed and The Lie

_Well, fuck._

_I'm writing here at one in the morning because I need to tell someone and I don't want to wake up Tara. Oh Goddess Tara used to be really close to her and she doesn't know how badly it turned out. Tomorrow is gonna suck the big one._

_Anya is gone for good. Well okay Anya went when she was left at the altar and embraced her demony self again. Anyanka was lost roughly an hour ago after she refused to bring back a dozen frat boys from a massacre I will need copious amount of alcohol to be able to forget. She won't come back from this._

_It began just yesterday morning when I was headed to my second class of the day. I admit I was a bit tired since I'm studying at 150% pace this year to graduate early but I really should've seen her leaving that frat house earlier than I did. She almost managed to teleport away before I managed to place a temporary anchor and hold her in place. I didn't want to fight, I actually wanted to talk, and I knew I wouldn't be able to hold her long enough for support to arrive anyway._

_No chance to blocking her teleportation on the fly either, need a lot of prepwork for that. Demon magic is annoying like that._

_But I tried to initiate some small talk, something both of us lack any real talent with, but she was evasive and even hostile despite my continued reassurances that I just wanted to talk. It wasn't until I saw the traces of blood splatter on her shirt that I lost focus and she managed to get away._

_I rushed into the frat house and there were so many bodies, so much blood. It took some pretty intense self-control to not create a waterslide of vomit at the lobby stairs but I managed. I soon found a girl hidden in the closet who talked about making a wish and as if by dramatic order I was jumped by some huge spider demon that I late found out was a Grimslaw Demon. I burned it to cinders before it hit me but I knew that this was going to be one long day._

_I went to Anya's old apartment to confront as well as gather some personal items to track her down and anchor her and I did not expect the blowback that I received. It seems that being our friend and ally for so long made us underestimate just how powerful Anyanka really was because I went in half-cocked and got my ass handed to me. It wasn't until I managed to put up a frost barrier that I managed to escape from the battle._

_I called on Faith to join me at Buffy's place and we were greeted by Xander and Buffy both._

_To claim the very objective and rational discussion that followed my retelling of the morning's events was of the spirited kind would be something of an... understatement._

  
_***_

  
_10:46AM_   
_October 24, 2002_   
_Summers' Residence_   
_1630 Revello Drive_   
_Sunnydale, CA_

Xander grunted in frustration as he slumped back into the chair.

"Willow, it's Anya. How come you didn't tell us before you went all Scarlet Witch on her ass? How could you not have called me?"

Faith seemed to contemplate something important but held her tongue as Buffy intervened.

"Xander, it's okay. She didn't tell us for a reason. She didn't tell us because she knows what I, what we, have to do and she wanted to try to reason with her first." Buffy sighed and looked to the floor, shame coloring her expression vividly.

"We have to kill Anyanka."

Willow nodded grimly, finding no joy in killing a woman that she never really got along well with and rarely liked but who was a friend of sorts for several years.

"She is not the Anya that you knew, Xander. Not since the wedding."

He tensed up, Xander always hated when the others brought up the biggest mistake of his life.

"She's a demon. That doesn't mean you have to kill her. Spike's alive!"

"Don't act like I want to do this, it isn't easy for me to lose yet another friend."

"Then don't do it," he hissed.

"There's no other choice that stop her murdering rampage. When it was rapists, murderers and abusers in other parts of the world I could feign ignorance, or that it was out of my jurisdiction, but she just slaughtered a fraternity and tried to kill Will."

He stood up and paced back and forth in the living room, feeling like the walls were closing in around him.

"These are not natural deaths, we can fix this right? We can bring them back! Willow is strong enough!"

"No!" Willow afforded no chance of doubt in her position in the matter. "Even if I was strong enough, I wouldn't do that. I'm never bringing anyone back again. I wouldn't even bring back you, Xander. Or Tara. I can't do that again, ever."

Faith finally seemed to snap out of her intense thought process and interrupted the others.

"Wait, if Red is the Scarlet Witch does that mean that T would be Emma Frost? You reckon she'd look wicked in that white outfit. You know which one Red, the one with a small top with a cape? Think you could get her one of those for Halloween? I promise I'll get you the Scarlet one if you do, you even got that whole 'Jewish upbringing' thing in common!"

The entire room fell silent as they first turned to Faith in wonder and then to the apparently distracted Willow in confusion. After a few seconds her face turned red and she regained focus.

"That's not what we're here for, Faith!" She tried to sound assertive but failed to convince anyone of her complete focus on the crisis. "YesI'llaskherandyesseeifyoucanfindoneinmysize and as I was saying, we have to do this. We can't let her slaughter innocents, assholes as they may be, and she show no signs of stopping or slowing down."

He switched tracks back to the argument as fast as he had gotten derailed by the interruption.

"This isn't new ground. When our friends go all crazy and start killing people, we help them."

Faith looked up from the laptop she had snuck out from Willow's bag and frowned.

"Hey, I wasn't a friend to you schmucks back then. And the only help I got from you was a bad attempt at bowel surgery!"

"It's different Xander, Anya isn't human anymore."

Xander turned back to Buffy, rapidly losing his composure. "No, it's different because I still love her. It's different because you're didn't bone her bad. It's different because you can't understand how it feels!"

That was the final straw for her. Was he really that much of a master in the art of cognitive dissonance?

"I killed Angel, do you even remember that? I would've given up everyone, everything, to be with him but it didn't matter because he needed to die to save the world, save you!"

Xander tried to recover but know he was on dangerous ground. "Well, that turned out okay in the end, didn't it?"

"Do you remember cheering me on, both of you?"

Willow stared at her in confusion. This was news to her.

"Do you remember giving me Willow's message? "Kick his ass", you told me."

Okay, this was just wrong. "I never said that! I tried to restore his soul, I DID restore it. I told him to tell you that!"

Room fell quiet again except for the keystrokes from Faith's typing.

"What? But Xander said..."

Xander panicked. He had forgotten about the fib. "This is different!"

"You lied to her? You said I wanted Angel dead? Xander, I sat in a hospital bed, fresh out of coma, and risked my _spirit_ to give him back his soul. I only asked you to tell Buffy so she could try to stall for more time and you _lied_ to her?"

He had failed to divert their attention. He was caught and had no escape.

"He murdered Jenny! He was about to end the world! I had to lie so you wouldn't be distracted and let him end the world just because you wanted to save your deadboy lover!"

Willow cringed. He did NOT go with the right strategy there. Suddenly she wasn't just worried about Anya but actually about him as well. Buffy's expression did nothing to calm those feelings.

"I thought I was alone. I left Sunnydale because I thought everyone had turned their backs on me. I kept his return secret because I thought everyone was rooting for his death until the very end. I felt so alone and scared and it was all because you couldn't get over your lack of control and your unrequited crush? Do you have ANY idea what you did to me?"

Xander was stumped. He never considered the impact his lie had on both the summer and the following fall. Did her keeping the Spike affair secret also come from this betrayal? But he only wanted what was best for her, to keep her eye on the ball.

"I'm sorry I'm not up to snuff, General Buffy, but sometime you do have a tendency to lose focus on your the bigger objective. So yeah, if Anya were about to launch an apocalypse I'd hate it but I would support you ending her. She is not, though. She is in pain and you refuse to even consider a way to help her."

She stood up and he whilted under her icy glare.

"You are right. I am the General. I am in charge, alone at the top, but the priorities of command demand that you do not give or withhold information related to the battle. You had no right to do what you did and the only reason I won't push this any further is because there's a murderous demon in my city and I need to stop her rampage."

She moved towards the weapon chest but after she withdrew a blessed sword she turned around to see that Xander had already ran out the front door and was in the process of starting up his car.

"Will, Faith, you coming?"

Willow nodded, sadly, and rose to the occasion despite the exhaustion from her earlier fights in the morning. Faith put in a few final keystrokes and then returned the computer to Willow with a smile.

"Got it!" The other two girls looked at her in confusion.

"I found an outfit in your size, it'll be here before Halloween! Consider it a late birthday present for your girl!"

It took the pair a couple of moments to recover as Faith retrieved a large hand axe and left the building but soon all three were in the process of entering the truck.

***

  
_So yeah, remind me that I need to have a very important conversation with Xander on betrayal, honesty and trust. Which reminds me, I still haven't talked to him about how he lied about not remembering his time of being possessed by a hyena spirit._

_I need to have a talk soon with Buffy as well. I had no idea she thought I wanted Angel dead. Yeepers, no wonder she was so bitter at me after she returned. Or that she didn't trust me with the Spike affair._

_Crap, that reminds me, the flustercuck that followed when we caught up with Xander and Anyanka at the frat house._

***

Then the trio entered they were immediately greeted by a rank smell of warm corpses as well as the loud yelling of former lovers. Anyanka hovered two feet of the ground, her back towards the entrance, her demon visage in full splendor, while Xander stood a few feet away and looked like an apologetic child as he plead for her to undo the damage.

The trio split up as they entered. Buffy went to the left flank and Faith to the right while Willow prepared a binding spell while blocking the front door with her body.

It was futile. Xander yelled in protest at the attempted ambush of his ex-fiancé and she thanked him by backhanding him five feet backward, crashing into the stairs.

Then everything moved so far. Faith attacked first and fought wildly. Since Willow rarely took part in patrolling these days, Faith rarely sharing the experience with anyone except Dawn, she had forgotten just how much fury Faith contained every single day. She had no reason to be mad at Anyanka, they had no beef and would probably be good friends in another life, but the pure, unadulterated rage she was able to channel into her combat style was terrifying.

She put up a good fight but Anyanka was clever. She fought extremely defensive against the Dark Slayer, not being as used to her fighting style to take unnecessary risks, but as soon as the opportunity appeared she managed to deliver a piledriver into Faith's ribs that sent her flying into a large glass cabinet.

That's when Buffy intervened. Anyanka fought a lot more aggressively against her as she had spent the last couple of years studying her stances and style and was able to use demon strength and speed to cover up her relative lack of experience. Buffy was able to wear her down, despite the frequent use of short teleportations to confuse the Slayer, and eventually managed to run her through like a spit with the blade.

"You know that doesn't kill me, you're not that stupid Buffy."

They remained frozen in position as Faith started to stir from the rubble she inhabited.

"But you're not here to impale me, you're just waiting for your pet witch to hold me down so you can depower or banish me. I wonder why you trust that girl, or Faith for that matter? Don't you know what they did to your blonde lover?"

Willow froze in motion as she was finishing the final touches of the binding sigil and nervously looked up at her old friend.

"Oh, you didn't know?" She asked mockingly, knowing very well that Buffy still thought Spike was alive somewhere. "Well, Willow and Faith cornered him just as Warren was about to kill him. Instead of murdering the man your little mystic she magically removed that pesky little chip and let Spike murder him in cold blood. Faith was there and watched, too!"

Willow lost her focus completely. Had Anyanka seen what happened in that dark alley or did she find it out afterwards? When did she find out?

Buffy turned, eyes dazed in confusion, towards Willow and the demon pounced on the opening. She disarmed the Slayer and punched her backwards before closing the distance, captured weapon in hand.

"And after that, they used both stake and fire to eradicate him, to kill Spike in cold blood. And they never told anyone, not how Warren actually died or that they murdered Spike. Nine hells, they didn't even tell anyone he was gone."

Willow knew that she was using conjecture now as they had told Dawn, Tara as well as Angel. They had to tell Angel, even if Faith hadn't insisted out of loyalty, because they knew he'd felt the slaying of his grandsire and they needed to preempt Angel asking Buffy if she knew anything about it. He had kept his word and his silence, she now knew for certain. She glanced at Faith for an instant and knew that none of them would correct the demon. Better they shouldered all the blame themselves and kept their friends out of the crossfire when things got ugly.

Anyanka used Buffy's wavering confidence and willpower to press the attack. Buffy's dodges got sloppier and counterattacks failed to hit their mark. Anyanka was about to deliver the finishing blow when Willow realized that they wouldn't all walk out of this alive, she had to choose between a betrayed and incredibly angry Slayer or a scorned and suicidal vengeance demon.

_"Stoddva!"_

Anyanka was frozen in place, straining against the magic. Willow was barely holding her as she had spent far too much power in their earlier battle and there was only moments before Anyanka would be free to end it all.

She never got the chance. The Vengeance Demon Anyanka, also known as Aud of Sjörnjost and Anya Christina Emmanuella Jenkins, died by decapitation at the incredible age of 1142 at the hands of the Slayer known as Faith Lehane. She was found in her human form with twelve male students in a frat house the following morning and the mass murder was never solved. Faith smashed her power source in an attempt to undo her lethal wish granting but as they soon found out, that method only worked when the wishgranter was still alive.

***

  
_Faith killing Anyanka and Buffy finding out we dusted Spike is going to have repercussions. After the deed was done we hurried away from the house as Buffy collected Xander. We should probably stay away from the Summers residence for a while. I don't know who hates us more right now, Buffy for dusting Spike and not mentioning it or Xander for killing Anyanka._

_As I said, tomorrow is gonna suck the big one. I really lost that moral high ground from earlier in the day in quite a spectacular manner._

_Oh, Faith just returned._

_..._

  
_Back. Had to uphold my end of the deal, now let's just hope that Tara is willing to wear this outfit next week. Thank the Goddess for Faith's superhuman talent to distract us._

_And for Tare to have the assets fitting for the outfit!_


	6. October 31, 2002

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guest Writer, Accidental Outing and a Taco Fest Invite

_Hi, journal of Willowy thoughts. Dawn Summers here. I'm writing as Willow dictates, quite drunk, while she is half-sleeping under the table. She asked me to write down a couple of things before she accidently cast another Tabula Rasa to forget the hangover she promise will scar her for life tomorrow._

_Faith called her the Scarlet-Nosed Witch as response. And then something about witches should handle alcohol better than water._

_Great party, anyway. Only House Lehane, myself, my friend Amanda(I hope she keep her promise and say nothing to her parents or Buffy will murder me and Faith. I thought Faith had locked the bathroom door!), her new boyfriend Carlos as well as Winnie the Fred and Gunn from Angel's team. I don't think we planned for it but it accidentally became a quadruple-date with schmexy costumes. I totes pulled off this librarian costume but Willow said something that it was weird and confusing and that normal librarians doesn't wear stuffy tweed. Nonsense! Besides, Giles would never pull off these high heels._

_Anyway, Willow just woke up again and want to dictate the list now. Her words, not mine. As if this journal could contain the awesomeitude that is the Dawnster Chronicles!_

_1\. Tara is the sexiest Emma Frost(So far!)_   
_2\. Faith was hauntingly accurate with Willow's measurements(I don't get this one)_   
_3\. Tara has the best singing voice(I agree!)_   
_4\. If you are going to crush a can of beer with your forehead, make sure it's empty_   
_5\. Aspirin is in the top left drawer in the bathroom_   
_6\. Dawnie, a wet towel. And the bucket!_

_..._

_My bad, caught in the moment there! Got to her in time though, no spillage! Almost._

_7\. Dawnie will never read this journal upon the penalty of snitching to Buffy about her and Faith.(Agreed!)_   
_8\. Shouting "Hey, Gunn, over here!" in the 24/7 store when doing a beer run should only be done by using his first name._   
_9\. Accidental shoplifting after said incident is not a crime as it wasn't on purpose.(Oh yeah that's some quality parenting. Just be glad Tara didn't hear that, Willster)_   
_10\. All underage guests who are spending the night must help carry overworked red haired witches to the bed when it's time and wait a minute!_   
_11\. Dawnie is excluded, Tara shouts from the bedroom_   
_12\. Also, Tara says that accidental shoplifting IS a crime. Except on Halloween and when it's done to make sure cops don't kill our black friend just because someone messed up._   
_13\. I think it's all snoring from here._

  
_I'll get a pillow for Willow(tehee) and then it's bedtime. Something tells me they'll be sticking me with the cleanup tomorrow if only because I'm the only sober one left._

_14\. No magic or bitter muttering about the cleanup when Willow tries to sleep_

_Nightynight, Willownomicon!_

_Dictated, but not read, by Dawn Summers_

  
_***_

  
_Err, I remember nothing of this, okay? Dawnie made all that up. On an entirely unrelated subject, I need to ensure that Amanda doesn't accidently out Dawnie to Buffy or anyone else._

_Except the part about Tara's costume and singing. That's 100% certifiable truth. I'll fight you for it. Or provide evidence in the form of the picture that she doesn't know I took. Hello new desktop image!_

_Also, we're all out of aspirin and for some reason I don't want to go back to the store right now._

  
***

  
Dawn looked up from her homework as Buffy headed down the stairs, dressed for Slaying after the yearly night off the evening before.

"So, did you have fun over at Amanda's place yesterday?"

She nodded enthusiastically with a sly grin, hoping this isn't a setup for further incrimination but rather just regular bonding between two increasingly estranged sisters.

"Oh yeah, there were only a few of us but it was fun and relaxed, we rarely get that these days you know?"

Her sister nodded with a sad smile as a response and planted a kiss on the top of her head. As Dawn finished up the remaining homework the Slayer started to load up on the usual patrol weaponry when she noticed a missing call.

"Huh, did you see when we got this message? I haven't checked the machine today."

Dawn shook her head. "Nope, haven't seen noticed it at all. Might've been when we were at Sunny High."

Buffy looked at her, nonplussed, but shrugged it off as she went for her coat while her sister hit play on the machine.

It was Faith. A very drunk Faith from sometime late last night. "Heeeey D-Dog, if you get the chance to stop by tomorrow for another helping of taco eatin'. I think this one is going to be a lot juicier than the last time. Say hi to B from me!"

It is theorized that time is relative depending on the speed of movement. The extreme slow motion that Dawn experienced in the three seconds between the message ending and Buffy shouting 'WHAT?!' supports that theory, if the object that is being measured is her mind trying to figure out a logical reason for why Buffy's former nemesis and very NOT favorite person in the world is drunk dialling her little sister with lesbian innuendo in the middle of the night.

  
***

  
The doorbell rang, playing 'Only Sixteen' for the first time ever, and Willow couldn't hide her smug grin as Faith half-jokingly growled at her. As if expecting the noncommittal threat to be enough she waited for the elfin witch to get up and answer the door.

No dice, Willow turned back to her book and Tara didn't even look up, completely engrossed in the sketch she was creating on the pad in her lap.

Faith rolled her eyes and rose as the doorbell started the tune for the second time. 'I'll get them with some Ukrainian death metal next time they want to sleep in. Stupid smug nerdy witches.'

As if she heard the thought process of her friend Tara offered an apologetic smile as a thank for getting the door.

About a second after opening the door, Faith returned to the couch in a crash landing and with an open wound at her cheek. She cursed and stood up as her roommates shot up in well-rehearsed response, prepared for any kind of otherworldly house invader.

"Hi, B. I guess you found out, huh?"

Oh how they wished it was a demon. Any demon. Or an Old One. Or even a hellgod. Anything would be better than an extremely ticked-off Slayer who had found out about her daughter's very active sex life less than 30 minutes earlier.

Where is an apocalypse when you really need one?

  
***

  
"Hi! This is Amanda! I'm not by the phone right now but leave a message after the beep and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!"

_Beep._

"Hi, it's Dawn. So, uh, you don't need to worry about accidentally outing me to Buffy. Faith did it last night, apparently. Buffy is headed over there right now to 'talk' so either I'm grounded until I'm 18 or we're soon going to hear about a fight that leveled the entirety of downtown Sunnydale.

She said nothing about anything else regarding last night, just so you know. _Nothing._

See ya at school. Or at my funeral, whichever comes first."


	7. November 1, 2002

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Family therapy, Betrayal and Cat Confessions

_Okay, yesterday was intense. Hangover and cleanup and saying goodbye to Fred and Gunn and apologizing to the store owner and Faith flying across the apartment and then getting help from Tara in keeping the two angriest - and strongest - girls in the world apart from each other._

_We tried by using words. We soon switched to using spells._

_After two hours of shouting, threats, attempts at violence, actual violence once I had to go to the bathroom and then repairs of a broken chair we agreed to meet up at the Magic Box to make peace( **again** , seems like that's all we're doing these days. Remember when we used to be friends and peace was the natural state, not the exception?) today in, err, twenty minutes. Uh oh, gotta go._

  
***

  
The bell over the store jingled and the last two members of House Lehane - as it was commonly being called after Faith's jest during the First Evil briefing - entered the store. It was after hours and Tara had already closed the store for the evening and used the free time to try to calm the spirits of the Summers sisters.

When Dawn saw Faith her mood immediately brightened but the couple remained subdued as to not further irritate the elder sister.

"Can you three just sit down so we can get this over with and I can bring by shortsighted sister back home for her 8PM bedtime?"

Dawn groaned and rolled her eyes but bit her tongue. Buffy wanted to derail the meeting so she had an excuse not to face the fact that her sister wasn't a child anymore and Dawn would not take the bait.

"Now Buffy, I understand this is an uncomfortable situation for you and the way you found out was certainly not ideal but you promised you'd try to talk with both Dawn and Faith and that Willow and I would be here to try to help work out a solution for all of you?"

"I got a solution. Faith stays the hell away from my sister. There. Done."

Faith was uncharacteristically icy so far, showing nothing of that sexualized swagger that everyone she knew recognized as a large part of her outer demeanor.

"No. Your sister is her own individual. If D-Dog says I'm gone, I'm gone. I do not, have not and will not force her to be with me but what I won't do is let you make that decision for her."

Buffy scoffed and took out a piece of paper with some notes written down. She had prepared for this, knowing that she was fighting a lone uphill battle and that she couldn't fall back to threats and emotions without any well-motivated cause.

"Okay, here's a number of reasons you two are not going to happen. One, she's a minor. Two, you're a convicted criminal. Three, you've killed people. Four, age difference. Five, she needs to focus on school. Six, she needs to stay safe. Seven, it's too risky to walk to downtown and back unescorted when she's well-known to be my sister. Eight, there is a large chance of heartbreak in her future for when I kill you. Nine, she needs a stable living environment and social circle. Ten, you are a walking bordello. Eleven,"

Her recount of her notes was interrupted by an unexpected slap that not only shocked her but also hit her hard enough to make her tumble out of the chair she occupied. Dawn stood over her with an intense rage in her eyes, one that didn't falter when Buffy shot up to attempt to stare her down.

"You do not speak of her that way, Buffy. You show her some goddamn respect or I'll crap the bed in school so badly that the CPS will be bursting down the door to take me away."

Dawn loved her sister, she actually did. She wanted to live with her until she finished high school at the very least but she had grown tired of being treated as a preteen only because her sister couldn't cope with her own puritanical insecurities. She had the nuclear option and was willing to use it.

"Dawnie, please, sit down. Buffy, you too. And refrain from such needlessly inflammatory insults and Dawnie will not initiate any physical violence again, understood?"

Both sisters nodded but only Dawnie actually seemed somewhat apologetic about it. Wasn't too surprising to Tara though since Dawn had acted in the spur of the moment while Buffy actually had 'bordello' written down as an argument on her note.

Faith decided to reinsert herself info the proceedings and sat up straight.

"Alright B, here's some counter arguments. One, yeah she's a minor but big whoop, this was not a choice made lightly and we're both clean and I'm pretty sure we don't have to worry about any teenage pregnancies here. Two, I'm an excon. A pardoned excon, actually, and one that you've said you no longer judge me for or did that amount to nothing but hot air for you? Three, so have you. Remember Ronnie? I sure do, I think Nancy does as well. Four, it's less than two years and a couple of months. Get over it. Finn was three years older than you and that's the smallest age gap you've ever had with any of your partners, even if we ignore all the undead years. William and Liam weren't exactly teens when they got turned. Five, we've been together since this summer and we've been close friends since spring semester. Take a look at her grades and attendance during that time and compare it to the same period the year before."

Dawn beamed in pride of her girlfriend. It was strange to listen to Faith speak without her usual mannerisms, mostly, but she knew it was a coping mechanism when she knew that she had to be taken seriously and therefore spent a large amount of willpower and energy in keeping her shit together.

"Six," Faith continued. "she's dating the Slayer who live with two extremely powerful witches. She's also trained in several fighting styles and is more than able to defend herself when pushed to."

"What the hell are you talking about? Since when did you learn to fight?"

Dawn rolled her eyes. She hoped her sister had taken notice of the months of practice but had remained quiet to not cause any drama but Buffy really had not realized how much time Dawn had spent honing her skills.

"Every single saturday afternoon since mid-February. During that time I haven't been captured once and other than some very superficial injuries, mostly caused from the kill squad YOU were indirectly responsible for, I've been almost unscathed during that same time. Some of it is because two slayers patrolling does good things with civilian casualty rates but to claim that's all there is would be a dumb lie."

Faith nodded in agreement and quickly threw a stake over the shoulder of her girlfriend who caught it effortlessly before pitching it back.

"D-Dog has a real talent for this. But even so, I don't put her in risk for the shits and giggles B, I just want her to be able to defend herself because we live on top of the Hellmouth, in case you forgot. Anyway, to continue: Seven, she's been taught to drive in that same amount of time and even drove you when you got poisoned by that crazytimes demon. You need to let her get a permit so she can get her license soon because she is by far a better driver than you and probably ahead of Red as well."

Willow crooked her head to the left and shrugged in acceptance. She was adequate as a driver and had no qualms about it. When you can actually fly and in emergencies, teleport, being a great driver lose some of its appeal.

"Eight and ten, no heartbreak coming from me and you know what, feck off. Do you know how many partners I've had since I ditched the pokey? One, and that's D-Dog. And that's how many it'll remain until she gets rid of me. This isn't a fling for me, it never was. Nine, where do you think her stable environment has been for the last year? Because it hasn't been at your place, not since the girls split up at least. And I've been there, you and the Xanman doesn't exactly keep the place fresh and well-stocked. It's at our place she have her friends over, it's at our place she does her homework, it's at our place she actually have people to talk with during the weekdays since you're almost only home when she is asleep.

Dawn looked at her sister sadly and nodded. Buffy couldn't really contest the claims and was bothered that it was making so much sense.

"You. Killed. Spike. She, both of them, killed Spike and they hid it. He was with you for almost an entire year, Dawn, and they murdered him."

Willow had expected this to be brought up and saw it as her que to finally speak up.

"Buffy, we dusted him. We gave him a chance to not kill a human without the chip and he failed, spectacularly. Not only with Warren but he tried to attack us immediately afterwards. He had also not been a part of Dawnie's life ever since you came back, especially after both me and Tara had moved out. And finally, he tried to _rape_ you and he ranted that by killing Warren he'd make you take him back again, make you forgive him. He treated it, he treated YOU like nothing by making the assault a twisted kind of bounty to be repaid by the blood of a human. I am not ashamed of what we did, Buff. I'd do it again. I'm glad we dusted that predator."

Buffy stood up in protest, almost toppling the large table as she did. She turned to Dawn, her eyes shooting daggers, and hissed.

"Fine. If you want to spend your days with them, with Faith, then do so. You'll still live with me and if your schoolwork suffer or you get drunk or high you'll stay home or I'll contact our father who'll take you instead. I'm going, I bet you can find a ride home yourself. Just gimme a call if you're not sleeping at home so I know you're not dead."

She didn't let them answer, storming out of the store as Tara frowned and buried her face in her hands as she leaned over the counter. Willow hurried up to hug her distraught partner, watching over her shoulder as Faith did the same. She offered a tentative smile at Faith as she was embracing her sobbing girlfriend and mouthed a 'Thank you' in reply.

  
***

  
_Okay, that could have gone a lot worse. And a lot better. But Faith and Dawnie doesn't have to hide their relationship anymore, which is good! But Buffy looked so mad and sad and betrayed and that's bad. She knows though that Dawn is strong and can defend herself and that's good! She will worry about her going to to patrols and stuff even though she won't do it that often and that's bad. Dawn's sleeping at our place tonight but she did call and warn Buffy who then realized she already had spare clothes in a dresser here and that's... I don't know if it's good or bad but it's tense as heck and it better smooth over soon._

_We also established a new rule for House Lehane. When Faith has had more that four bottles, cans or glasses of beer she has to deposit her phone to the Rosenberg and Maclay Bank of Safekeeping. She agreed without protest and said she'd gladly let us handle the 'Red and T BS'. Smug gnat._

_After she left the Box for the meeting I helped Tara clean up while the girls talked things over in private. It was there I found my Book of Shadows. I totally forgot about that. It has all my old spells and some notes and even my failed attempts to de-rat the Amy. I wonder where she ended up after she kidnapped me. I know for a fact she survived and ended up at Sunnydale Memorial but after that she fell of the planet._

_Hopefully literally. It'd be nice to never have to see her ever again._

_Going to read over the spells and the old entries I made. At times it was almost like a proto-journal so I'll have to read it over and see if I've been misremembering stuff._

_Pssh, as if. I'm like Miss Reliable Narrator USA for 21 years and running._

  
_***_

  
_Ohh I found the Spell to Understand Cats. Accidently created it while I was trying to help Amy and while it didn't work on cats I met the ones on the TV talked to me as if they were human._

_Stuff to include:_  
_Iron Plats_  
_Mortar & Pestle_  
_Catnip_  
_Valerian_  
_Cat's Claw(herb, not the real thing. I'm not a monster. Well, that not kind of monster)_

_Directions:_  
_Stay awake for at least two nights in a row, grind together all the herbs you have into a powder, put them on the plate, and then recite:_  
_"Diana, Hecate, I hereby license thee to impart."_  
_Lit the herbs and zap, you'll be able to understand cats._

_I found out back then that the cat actors didn't actually like the Tasty Nibblets food they were selling. Coulda figured, Miss Kitty didn't like them either. Gonna show this to Tara and see if she has any idea why it didn't work on cats in real life._

  
_***_

  
_Tare claim nothing will or did happen, that I just got high on the herbs. I say phooey and want to retry it but since we don't have a TV here it seems kinda useless._

_Faith was all for trying it out! She wasn't that interested before Tara gave her input though._

_***_

_Tara changed our doorbell to 'Because I Got High'. I have a tiny suspicion that it might be a jab at my younger self._


	8. January 6, 2003

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Strike, End of an Era, a new Shieldmaiden and the God of Hipsters.

_So, here I am, sitting in the wreckage that used to be our dining room. I should be cleaning this mess up while Tara is in the shower to wash off Faith's blood. Faith isn't here, she dashed out as soon as we patched her up and told us to remain to ensure we're safe from further attacks. I've stacked the bodies on our balcony but sitting in the rubble and waiting for Tara because I think this is a time for magic to fix the repairs, Xander still doesn't talk to us and we don't have the income to replace the table, all chairs but one, our bed or the couch. The microwave and the main bookshelves are history, too, but at least the books themselves survived relatively intact._

_Including you, which is good. Gooder than good. I still need you._

_A lot of things have happened recently. Jonathan returned. Apparently he got parole after he squealed on Tucker's brother and helped them find all the stolen goods they had amassed. He actually got back about a week ago but none of us knew about it, he's been living in Buffy's basement as their new resident spellcaster. I figure that the Fawn situation ended any chance of future reconciliation between me and Buff._

_I miss her, you know? I actually do. Even when I messed up or she frustrated me endlessly we were still best friends. She was the first person I told about Tara. She saved Oz from the Initiative and me from Oz' wolfly self. She has kept us all safe and I helped, sometimes._

_But things haven't been good between us for a long time. We've tried but I think she will never get over the resurrection or that I chose Faith over her. And I haven't been the best of besties either, I still remember all the times she put me down while pushing me further towards the darkness. I know she didn't mean to but she did and it still hurts._

_And, to be honest, she broke her promise to me. I told her that we couldn't keep fighting and then making up without fixing anything. I told her that if our friendship was going to work then she had to stop being a poopyhead to Faith and ever since the Slayer Peace Accords of the Magic Box things have been... cold. No physical fights but they're back to post-pardon levels of hostility between us. We coexist, she barely tolerate us and doesn't stop Dawn from visiting, but it's a shaky peace and everyone's on the edge._

_Jonathan is apparently being extra nice and does not protest that he is essentially a probationary scoobie. He was never an asshole, he just lack any kind of common sense and is easily pushed around. If Xander can befriend him I think he'll be a warlock fighting for the good people. It's a smart move by Buffy._

_Dawn has told me that Buffy is making a lot of those lately. She is apparently preparing for something big, buying canned food, medical supplies, foldout beds, sheets and have warned Dawn that she'll have roomies soon. She refused to say who'd move in but Dawn said she is in constant contact with both Giles and the Devon coven._

_Buffy has fully embraced the General Buffy role that she claimed before Anyanka ~~died~~ was slain. She's acting like a commander awaiting her troops and not like a friend or sister. I fear I might have broken her ability to trust in people after slaying Spike and keeping it hidden from her. She is friendlier to Tara though who has become somewhat of a negotiator between Fort Summers and House Lehane._

_Fort Summers is apparently about to become more of a Fort than before. Xander have ordered a large amount of wood, metal sheets and other supplies to reinforce all entry points and windows and even create arrow slits on the top floors in case they're under siege._

_Who the heck will man these fortifications?_

_Tara's out of the shower now and need a hug. Talk to you in a bit._

  
_***_

  
_Okay, cleanup done. Tara agreed with my idea of using magic to ensure we had somewhere to live, we don't really have any other good choice. She also agreed to channel strength and focus to me when we teleported the Harbinger bodies over to Willy's. He probably pooped his pants but it save us from cleanup and nobody will miss these corpses, nothing on them to identify them to any grieving families. I'm not even sure they're fully humans still, could be a Rack situation._

_Tara's currently sleeping with her head on my shoulder. She claimed she was just resting her eyes but that was ten minutes ago and she's started snoring again._

_Huh, just got a text from Faith. She said Dawnie and the scoobies are safe and that I should get my laptop and go to BBC's website and that she's home in a few minutes._

  
_***_

  
**_HISTORICAL ARCHIVE BOMBED BY TERRORISTS IN DOWNTOWN LONDON_ **

_The Esoteric Archive of Mythology, Witchcraft and Occult was destroyed in an attack less than twenty minutes ago in central London. The building, which is privately owned and funded and is known as a curious collection of texts related to old superstitions such as magic, devils and holy warriors, was completely destroyed and local police report that they've already found over a dozen bodies and no survivors._

_The Prime Minister appeal to calm even as reports are coming in from other similar attacks in the world. The British Consulate in Ahmedabad, India, was reportedly destroyed only a minute after the attack in London and at least three other consulates have been reported as being completely destroyed. These buildings were located in Marrakesh, Rio de Janeiro and Richmond, Virginia._

_The Prime Minister have said that the attacks are under investigation but the shadow cabinet have already put their blame on Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. No group have claimed responsibility yet and casualties are still being counted but are expected to be in the low hundreds in London alone._

_Bahira Rasheed reporting from London for BBC International_

  
***

  
A cold sweat ran down Willow's spine as she was switching between different tabs and windows, trying to find out what was actually going on without the mundane spin on it. All the buildings that have reported being under attack were known holdings of the Watcher's Council and as effective they were in making enemies Willow did not think for a second that 'normal' terrorists were the cause of the attacks. If anything, Willow realized that this would only be used as another excuse by the Blair government to support the rumored invasion of Iraq that the US-UK government have been working on for some time.

Tara was in the kitchen corner boiling some tea. She was quiet and shaking. She didn't have the same amount of loathing for the Council as Willow did and even if she did, none of them wanted all those people dead. 'Willow had threatened to bring down the Watchers. What if they think we reneged on the deal, that we're responsible. They didn't take the First Evil seriously and...'

"Giles! Will, has anyone heard from Giles?"

The front door opened and Faith stepped in, her knife and clothes covered in blood and rain. She stared at the furthest wall and butted in.

"He called B, he's alive. And he is coming. He knows the First Evil did this, we are not being blamed."

Willow looked up from the laptop, wide-eyed.

"Wait, why would we be blamed?"

Tara glanced at her with tired eyes and an 'oh come on you know why' look.

"Oh yeah, the whole 'Willow threatened to murder them all' thing I had going. Okay, good. Good that I'm not to blame and gooder that Giles is alive. But, uhh, what happened to you Faith? What went on at Buffy's?"

Faith removed her boots and started stripping down, hanging her clothes at the hangers in the bathroom.

"Eyeless freaks attacked them too, about double the numbers here. I think our attack was to keep us away from helping them but none of the attacks seems to have worked. B got some cuts, Xanman got knocked out and Johnny Boy almost got gutted in the beginning. D-Dog kept him safe though and according to him she fought like a wicked spirit. She was using a short spear and the temporary barriers you taught her to keep them off him."

Tara didn't try to hide her proud smile. Dawn had gotten to that spell early and now used it in an energy-efficient way to create a small temporary shield that was weightless but durable on her off-hand.

"When I got there the weirdest stuff happened. I burst through the front door just as she was being cornered by three of the igits and I feared she was a goner but after she got a cut on her spear arm she just blinked out. She reappeared an instant after behind them and stuck that shit like a pig. She kept jumping around until the two of us and B had killed 'em all and her sis looked like she just shat her dungarees. I didn't know you had taught her teleportation magic, T. Didn't even know you _knew_ how to use it safely yourself, honestly."

Tara shook her head, looking as confused as Willow after learning of the new developments.

"I don't and I didn't. That's something she's learned somewhere else. Uh oh, what if she's gone into the banned books in the Box?"

Willow smiled as she got an idea of the cause.

"Hey Faith, when Dawnie did her Nightcrawlery thing, did she leave behind any faint traces of green light? Like, some shimmering or just a faint trace of energy that you could feel under your skin?"

Faith nodded, not knowing where Willow were going with the thought process.

"Good. Then we're good. No dark magics, baby, no regular magic at all even. Only Dawnie magic. She was using her blood to create portals in the fight, she was being the Key again."

Faith, who was by now wrapped in a towel, carefully sat down at one of the newly repaired chairs. It seemed sturdy but she knew it was firewood just an hour ago and didn't want to take any chances.

"This is all related to her Key stuff from two years ago? I thought that ended when you curb stomped that basic Glory bitch?"

Tara's anxiety lessened considerably. She knew that Willow made a lot of sense. She didn't remember her time as a drained victim of the hellgod but Willow had told her of the pure, green light she had spoken of when her drained self looked at Dawn.

"We thought it did. Obviously, it didn't. Tomorrow we'll invite her over and light the research beacon while the scoobies deal with the Watcher attacks, okay?" Faith nodded. "What did Buffy say about her sister using magic, by the way?"

Faith nervously looked at them both and forced a smile.

"Well, if she wasn't mad at us all before... I told her that one of you, didn't say who, had helped her and that no dark magic was involved in any way. I'm glad I didn't accidently fib because I had to fake knowing more about the blinking to calm her down."

Willow stood up and went to her magic supplies, pulling out a replica of a magic horn, some street crayons and some blue ritual candles. Faith moved to the shower and Tara helped Willow set the ritual up before leaving the balcony.

"You don't have to leave, baby. Heimdallr is not an angry God and doesn't demand any supplication except some beer. Oh, remind me to buy another six pack because I'll be using the one we had stashed out here."

Tara kissed Willow with a smile on her lips before backing away.

"Thank you sweetie but I'm exhausted. Today has been draining and I think tomorrow isn't going to be a lot better. The make sure you clean up afterwards but don't worry about the crayon markings, the rain is coming back soon and will clear it away."

Willow daintly waved goodbye to her partner and sat down Indian-style in the middle of the drawn symbol, the horn replica in front of her, and started chanting from the Poetic Edda.

_She knows that Heimdall's hearing is hidden_   
_under the radiant, sacred tree_   
_she sees, pouring down, the muddy torrent_   
_from the wager of Father of the Slain;_   
_do you understand yet, or what more?_

A rainbow shimmered into being from the horizon, racing towards the horn in front of her and a ghastly visage of the Norse guardian of Bifröst and keeper of the gates appeared in front of her. It was time to find out for sure exactly what Dawn was destined for.

"Oh ye watcher of the horizon, our shield against Ragnarök. May ye grace this poor supplicant and grant the guidance..."

"Oh chill. Be cool, little girl. No need to be formal, we're all pals here? Bring out the beer and we'll rap!" Willow hadn't conversed with Heimdallr in the past but this man was clearly not what she expected. Sure, she knew she was biased by paintings from the romantic era that made him out to be this huge bearded viking guy. But, that he'd appear as a pale guy with trimmed sideburns, hair tied in a top-knot, square glasses and clothes that would make a beatnik seem trendy was not in her playbook.

"O-oh. Sure. Yes, we got this six-pack. I'm sorry that it's not more, this was a rather unplanny call after a chaotic evening."

He took out a couple of bottles from the small case and handed one to Willow.

"Hey, this is locally brewed craft beer so I'm not complaining. If you had brought me Bud Light or Pabst Blue I probably would have to smite you out of principle, dreadful stuff, but this here is quite exquisite. I hope your friend won't mind that you gave her stuff away, I know I never would've forgiven such a slight. She seems to be doing better with the whole forgiveness deal nowadays, though. And how's that girl of yours, she okay with you talking to someone outside the Celtic pantheon?"

She snorted. Good to get confirmation that the Aesir didn't object to her relationship. Considering the stuff the legends speak of when it came to their hookups and relationships it really didn't surprise her. Not like those snooty Abrahamic religions who just can't stop being busybodies.

"Tara is great! She says hi but she had a lot to do today and I think she is a bit worried you'd be offended by a non-supplicant intruding on our faithy time. And speaking of Faith, she is doing a lot better. It's because of her girlfriend I'm, err, calling you so I think she'll forgive the lending-of-liquids for this time."

He nodded and took out an already lit pipe from his pocket and put it in the side of his mouth.

"Ah yes, the Key. Or Dawn, as you like to call her. I heard she was part of the great skirmish today. Well done, all of you. They really stood no chance against both groups and Thor said he was very impressed with your Slayer friends. He said that if they ever wanted to convert they'd be obvious shoe-ins for Valhalla, it's not like Slayers often die in any other way than fighting now is it?"

Willow considered the notion for a moment but dismissed it. Buffy wouldn't listen to her and none of the Chosen Two were really of the religious type, even if Faith would love an afterlife of eternal fighting, drinking, eating and snuggling.

"I'll ask them but don't expect miracles, they're not really the churchy types. But yes, it's about Dawn. I was planning to explain what Faith told me but since you were looking out for us I feel like I'd be wasting my time so I'll just ask; were we right to think this is part of her innate Key-ness and not omens for something bad coming?"

He shook his head and puffed on the pipe again.

"No, nothing bad from the little girl. She found out about the skipping stuff a while ago but wanted to surprise you all when she had mastered it. I think she managed that by now, don't you? She's grown into quite the little Shieldmaiden by now, Brynhildr herself would've been proud. Make sure she keep practicing with those shorter spears and she'll be a force to be reckoned with. Now, if that's everything, I need to get back. And you have some preparing to do yourself, _Seidh_. You have a large part to play in the war to come, many battles await you and your friends and not all will make it out unscathed. Even if you do not become friends with the General, listen to her and advice her. The world depends on it."

The rainbow started to dissipate and Heimdallr blinked out of existence leaving Willow on the ground with an almost empty beer bottle in her hand as the rain started to pour.

She shook her head and chuckled as she stood up to gather her supplies. "He really is the 'whitest of the Gods,' at least that part was accurate."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn't obvious, I'm drawing from the Asatru mythology more and more as I continue this work. Not only is it barely used in the Buffyverse but it's a personal interest of mine, living close to one of the main holy sites of the religion and having spent time at Uppsala U studying the history, beliefs and myths of the religion.
> 
> Obviously I'm Buffying it quite a bit so it's not completely out of place. And I just couldn't miss the chance with the god that's called "The Whitest of Gods" and love mead to make him a hipster who loves craft beer. Whitest of white indeed.
> 
> Oh yeah, speaking of Buffy. Remember how she went all Commander Buffy of the Slayer Army in S7 and how she got better at balancing the role of Buffy and the Commander? Well, that's gonna be harder for her since her metaphorical Spirit is now cut off from her and her confidant got dusted in an alley earlier on. She's also growing distantly apart from her sister this time too. The difference is that this time it's by Dawn's choice and not Buffy ignoring her again.
> 
> As such, she recruited an old enemy and is transforming their home into a fortification and military stronghold.
> 
> She's General Buffy.


	9. January 9, 2003

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kennedy, the House of Sappho and News from the Front.

_Good news, everyone! Heimdallr pulled through and didn't mess around. All test we've done have shown that he was speaking the truth and Dawn was so proud that she had been noticed by an actual God. I didn't have the heart to tell her that Heimdallr sees and hear all._

_To be honest, I don't really like to think about it at all. That Scandinavian hipster is quite the Peeping Tom. Eww. Is that why he is okay with us being friends of Sappho? Eww._

_Wait, can he see this? You reading this, Heimdallr? Sorry about that, my mouth and pen doesn't always think before they act. They're darned rebellious against the regime of the brain that rule the nation of Willowstan._

_Please don't smite me. And please don't peep when I snuggle with Tara. She's very private. Except that one time on the balcony. Or in the bathroom at the Bronze. Or the empty lecture hall two weeks ago. Or the truck. Or under the blanket when we were watching a movie with our friends a couple of years ago. Or in the Magic Box storage while 'restocking' last weekend._

_Okay, she likes the risk of being caught but having permavision kind of ruin the thing. Please don't do that, okay?_

_Anyway, Faith accepted my six pack in penance for the one I gave away. She was interested in the whole conversion thing until she found out that only Heimdallr had the 'beer as offering' thing and that not all of them are as chill. "Not worth it, then" was her assessment._

_We're all heading out to the Bronze soon. I'm first to be ready, for once, and I'm waiting for them to finish up and then we'll pick up Dawn before going out. I'm glad she could join us, she is going crazy with her new housemates and I got an idea that might cheer her up._

_Oh yeah, housemates. We found out what army Buffy was going to use to wage her war. Potential Slayers. She is going to be housing uncalled Slayers - teenage girls without the strength or speed of a real Slayer - in her fortified home. Apparently, Giles brought a trio of them with him when he returned yesterday. They're there so that Buffy can protect them but they're also being trained to help defend themselves._

_Dawn is kind of mad at Buffy that the new girls are going to get training from the get-go while she had to sneak away and do it in secret despite having more experience than all three potentials combined. I can't blame her really._

_Faith has started calling her 'Shieldy' as soon as I told them of my ritual and Dawn is going all-in on the concept. She's started wearing her hair in a long, thick braid bound with thin rope and said that she'll keep her barrier as a round shield like those in old viking grave mounds. I won't lie, it's kinda awesome and she'll never know how proud we are of her. I did veto her getting a tattoo before she turns 18 though. She protested at first and did point out my tattoo but I reminded her that I was above 18 and that I didn't get it on purpose but that it was a gift from the coven. Dawn wanted a nordic rune but relented when both Faith and Tara backed me up. If she want a tattoo before turning 18 she'll have to get approval from Buffy and that's NOT happening. Good._

_Alright, Tara's done and I hear Faith fighting with a pair of pants in her bedroom so I gotta go. Time for some R &R before we meet up with the Scooby Gang for a powwow at the Magic Box tomorrow._

***

  
"...so now I have to share my bedroom with that new girl from New York. She even tried to hog the bed but that's where I put my foot down. On top of her own foot. With my heel."

The girls laughed as Dawn finished retelling the events since the arrival of what had already been dubbed the 'Potentials.' Willow stopped mid-laugh and turned to Dawn.

"Wait, why is that? Even if the other two girls sleep in the living room, can't Jonathan and Xander share either the basement or our old room? Both of them are bigger than your own and the other could be used by all three Potentials?"

Dawn shrugged - obviously frustrated - and groaned.

"God knows! Or rather, back home it's Buffy knows. She refused to take any suggestions to fix the setup and obviously _she_ has to have her own room despite it also being bigger than mine. I have no clue what to do once more girls start arriving, it's like I'm not even living there anymore."

Tara offered a comforting smile as Willow moved towards the bathroom. When Willow were on her way back to their table she was stopped by a short, young woman with brown hair.

"Hello there, haven't seen you before. What do they call you?"

Willow was stumped, not prepared to be interrupted. She felt the heat from the woman's hand on her arm so at least she wasn't a vampire. Oh the joys of living in Sunnydale where that is a constant concern.

"Uh, I-I'm Will. And I'm headed back to my table."

She motioned to her friends who hadn't noticed her yet. Dawn wasn't there but by the empty glass by her seat Willow figured she was just getting a refill.

"Hello then, Will. I'm Kennedy. I happen to be here by my lonesome tonight, would your friends mind if I invited myself to join?"

Willow again didn't know what to answer. Generally, people at the Bronze left her and the others alone due to their reputation as problem solvers AND causers but this Kennedy had no such inhibition. She mumbled noncommittally and her new friend took it as an affirmation and followed her to the table with a very slight limp, pulling up a chair next to Willow's. Faith and Tara greeted them with confused expressions but didn't say anything.

"So, uh, this is Kennedy. She's apparently wanted to join us as to not be alone here."

Faith hooked two of her fingers to Willow discreetly to ask if she's a vamp but relaxed a bit after Willow shook her head slightly. Tara put on a big smile and extended her hand to the newcomer.

"Hello Kennedy. I'm Tara and this here is Faith. I guess you're new in town if you're here alone?"

Kennedy nodded but kept her body mainly turned towards Willow, almost possessively. Willow sat there almost frozen and very uncomfortable with the invasion of her personal space.

"Yeah, I just arrived two days ago with some friends. They don't know I'm here - I needed a night off - but I know how to take care of myself."

Faith emptied the last of her bottle and put it down, loudly on the table.

"Good because this little town got a pretty rough nightlife. Murder and disappearance capital of the state, you know?"

Tara saw Willow's behavior and rose her eyebrows, signaling that she was ready to pull her out if necessary.

"Yeah, and then there's all the vamps and demons running around. Can't believe you guys haven't noticed that yet."

That shook Willow free from her stasis and she moved towards Tara - grabbing her hand and making distance between her and the newcomer - while Tara glared at Kennedy while she was trying to do a second read of her aura. Faith reached for her denim jacket's inner pocket where she kept her stake but didn't make the first move. Kennedy was surprised at their almost immediate reaction and disarmingly put her hands up in the air. Before she could profess her innocence the group was interrupted by Dawn manifesting from the crowds behind her.

"Kennedy, what the hamburglar are you doing here? Buffy said everyone stays inside tonight!"

The potential rose to her feet, moving her hurt foot backward in a defensive stance and Faith immediately realized who it was and relaxed, flashing a huge grin at her girlfriend.

"Ah, so this is your new bunkmate, Shieldy? You didn't tell her she was a fan of the taco menu."

Dawn's face reddened in embarrassment at the reference of her accidental outing but moved to get back to her seat, kissing Faith as she handed her a fresh bottle of beer. Kennedy bit her tongue as she realized that yes the girl she fancied was lesbian - but she was taken and so were everyone else at the table - including the Slayer's sister.

"So? You're not home so why do you care if I am? If you can move freely in these streets then I shouldn't have a problem."

That irritated Dawn. She could handle - even if she hated it - being constantly disparaged and ignored at home but this was her turf, her friends. Tara realized the risk for a conflict and put her hand on Dawn's shoulder in support.

"Dawnie is not part of Buffy's troops, she's made that very clear Kennedy. Buffy also know that Dawnie is with us and other than back home, we're the closest thing you'll get to safety in this city."

That's when the full situation dawned on her.

"Oh so you're the other Slayer then Faith? That'd make you two the witchy backup that Buffy spoke about." Willow tasted blood as she bit her bottom lip to refrain from a bitter retort. "So you all are what that Jonathan guy calls the Outlaws. Cool. You're all housing future slayers too or is it just one big House of Sappho at your place?"

Dawn kept struggling to keep her cool and probably would have gotten up in Kennedy's face if Willow hadn't butted in.

"Ohh, can we change our name to House of Sappho? Sounds a lot classier than what we got, no offense Faith."

Faith put up an expression of mock offense and protested, loudly.

"You wound me, Red! House Lehane is a great name and there is no need to change it."

Tara relaxed, the mood of the conversation had made a turn for the better. "W-well yeah. Besides, if we call the apartment the House of Sappho it feels like we're required to start selling vibrators and other... supplies."

Faith nodded, still keeping her fake persona.

"Yeah and I am NOT selling off my own personal stash, some of them haven't even needed to recharge yet!"

Willow couldn't keep it in any more and broke down laughing next to a giggling Tara and amused Kennedy as Dawn finally got involved.

"Besides, House Lehane totally sounds like a Harry Potter house and that's just cool."

The table fell into complete silence for a couple of seconds before Faith spoke up.

"Okay, effective immediately, we're the House of Sappho. I'm still not selling my bunny, though. Nobody but me - or possibly Shieldy - touches the bunny!"

  
***

  
The Magic box was a nexus of chaos. The two unknown slayers were currently chatting loudly with Jonathan and Xander as they were boasting about previous adventures. Buffy stood behind the counter next to Giles and another man wearing a dark suit. Willow and Tara stood close to the exit - like they did at the last meeting - and Faith kept guard by the door with an arm over Dawn's shoulders. Giles had been informed of their relationship and did not do a very good job at hiding his displeasure - both loudly and often at Fort Summers and right there, although a lot more quietly. Kennedy had moved over to the witches as soon as they entered and hovered around Willow.

"Now if everyone is here, I think it's time we call this meeting to order. Buffy has informed me that I'm to refer the two groups as Fort Summers and House Lehane..."

Faith loudly interrupted with a grin. "Sappho! We're now the House of Sappho!"

Several of the attendees snickered loudly and Giles sighed exasperatedly.

"H-House of Sappho? Are you serious, Faith? Do you... Nevermind, obviously you're serious. House of Sappho it is."

He took out his trademark napkin and did his ritual cleansing of the spectacles.

"If I can continue I bring you the latest update from the front, as they say. First of all; the rumors are true. Most of the Watcher's Council has been annihilated, including Quentin Travers." A loud stage whisper from Dawn announced her delight in his removal before she was hushed by a smirking Willow. "Some of us remain, however. We managed to organize some of the less... reactionary members of the Council to prepare both material, supplies, funding and our wards in hidden safehouses, resulting in us being down but not broken. Charles Smithshire here for example, he was instrumental in discreetly gathering all the books and other texts the Council held that even mention the First Evil and his Harbinger cultists."

The man nodded grimly, not moving a facial muscle in pride or recognition even as Willow finally realized who he was. She bit her tongue, deciding that it was a topic to revisit at a better time.

"You've all met Kennedy, I heard. The other two Slayers in training are Molly and Annabelle. Girls, over by the door with Dawn you see the members of the... House of Sappho. They're the other Slayer, Faith Lehane. Next to them are two of the most powerful witches in the western hemisphere, Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay."

"Those four form the Outlaws!" Jonathan shouted, a bit too eagerly as he attempted to join in the surprisingly jovial mood, and then immediately shrank as the attention was turned to him.

"If I can continue without any further outbursts, here's what we know about the Harbingers. They're humans who have sold their souls for telepathy with other members of the cult. They seem to be mute and while they lack eyes they seem to have exceptional senses and some kind of magical eyesight to compensate. As for the First Evil itself, little is known. It's older than known time but is incorporeal. That means that it can't touch us but we can't touch it either. It can take the form of anyone who has died, even vampires and Buffy. As such, as soon as you meet someone who is acting strangely either tap them on the shoulder or ask them to knock on a hard surface. If they refuse, ignore them and shout for help as the First doesn't seem to enjoy an audience to its attempts to demoralize us."

Buffy stood up straight as she finally involved herself in the meeting.

"How do I kill it?"

Giles shrugged apologetically.

"I have no idea. He can't be touched but if he manage to wipe out the entire line of the Slayers or if his minions start to outnumber the humans in this dimension he'll be able to possess anyone he want, how often he want."

"But since he only have those cultists that shouldn't be an issue, right?" Kennedy wasn't stupid - even if she was a bit arrogant - and if nothing else she took her role as a future warrior for good very seriously. It was something she had embraced ever since she was informed of her status at the young age of eight, making her a better fighter than most humans due to intense training and practice.

Giles nodded as he responded. "That is true. It's also probably the reason he is trying to kill all of you. And with the attacks the last four days, he's gotten well on the way to his final objective. I have colleagues currently traveling the world to collect the Potentials that we know of and our allied witch coven in Devon is actively scrying for more that we might have missed."

He removed his glasses and slowly moved his gaze across the gathered crowd.

"To be quite honest, I believe we have a rather extreme case of the Apocalypse on our hand."


	10. February 20th, 2003

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lesbian Bi-weekly Orgies, Self-Realization and Sent to the Principal's Office.

_Okay, I got good news and bad news. The good news is that Dawnie's principal, a Robin Wood, is not only not evil but he is a demon hunter! Apparently he was raised by his mom's watcher(oh yeah I didn't mention, his mom was a Slayer) and have fought against evil by his own ever since he became an adult. Cool!_

_The bad news is that he asked for both my and Faith's attendance. If he knows about her relationship with Dawnie then she might be in trouble. Sure, they're both consenting but Dawnie only just recently turned 17. The one defense we got prepared for this is that legally lesbians can't have 'sexual intercourse' in California. Thank the Goddess for institutionalized homophobia sometimes, huh? Still could cause a lot of problems and not something any of us want them to suffer._

_I wonder though, why did he want me around for the meeting? Has he heard about our new nickname for the home and think we're all in spanking orgies all the time here? Bah, that's only on every other weekend._

_If any FBI personnel or Buffy find this text, that was a joke. No orgies here, as far as I am aware of. But that's what the blindfolds are for._

_There, I did it again. I can't help myself. I must be punished with a whip at the next meeting._

_OH GODDESS when is Tara coming home I need to get my mind out of the gutter. Three more hours? Can't Giles run his own damn shop now that he's back?_

_Cold shower, be right back._

  
_***_

  
_Okay that sucked. Anyway, about Giles. I finally confronted him yesterday about the whole 'hey I sent my personal assistant to ineptly spy on you in one of your most vulnerable moments, we okay?' affair. I did not think I'd be the one leaving that conversation apologizing and thanking them both._

_You see, he wasn't spying on me or the coven, really. He was sent by Giles as a sentry to ensure no further attempts to kidnap, drain or kill me would happen while I focused my power and did some brain bleaching. He apparently killed two different assassins without the coven ever finding out so yeah, bunch of foot-in-mouth disease during that entire conversation._

_Due where it's due, I was wrong. Still think he should've told me but he actually seem to try to do better than in the past and have offered all resources he can muster to us as long as we remain part of the war effort._

_And we is part of it. We refused to merge our households but we're still with them. I'm really glad we stayed here because more potentials are arriving every week. Dawnie has to share her room with not only Kennedy but two others as well and I think there's over twenty girls living there now. Oh, one of the girls is Dawnie's friend Amanda. Always knew she had a mean streak after she threatened to throw Faith over the balcony at Halloween. So Dawnie isn't as alone when she's home anymore, that's something. The other girl, Vi, seems to be warming up to her as well so she got a small circle to rely on._

_Oh that reminds me, we got some new vampire breed that's both feral and completely loyal to the First. They're a lot stronger and MUCH sturdier than any other vampire, including the Master and Kakistos. They're called the Turok-Han and it took the combined efforts of both Faith and Buffy to bring one down and even that was closer than we'd like._

_Still it was a show of unity in the face of evil and a huge morale booster for us all. Because things are bad. I fear we won't win this war. This might be the end of us, of everything._

_To make it all worse, it's my fault. I caused the end of the world._

_Y'see, the reason the First Evil is able to break out of the Hellmouth is because we upset the balance when we resurrected Buffy. Before she died she was not part of the active Slayer line but after the magical resurrection she was reintroduced and now there's two lines and it's my fault and I should never have come back, should've let them end me._

  
_***_

  
_Yay that's a twelve-day streak of no panic attacks broken. I doubt I'll get anywhere close to that number before it's all over._

_I am so, so sorry._

  
***

  
"Miss Rosenberg, miss Lehane. Please, take your seats and welcome to Sunnydale High."

The women followed instructions after shaking Wood's hand in greeting. Both had seen him when picking up Dawnie at school at one time or another but never interacted with him before.

"Thank you, Principal Wood. I must say, I'm rather curious as to why you invited us here since none of us are of the proper age to attend."

"That, and I got my GED and Red here is about to matriculate all fancy-like over at the UC."

He smiled in response and shook his head.

"Nothing of the sort. This is actually a more personal matter. I've been told that both of you have been informed about my relation to the Slayer line?" Both nodded. "Good, that cuts down on the exposition. In short, my mother was Nikki Wood. She was active in NYC up until her murder in '77. The vampire that killed her was never caught and I've spent my adult life trying to track him down to take revenge. You see, the vampire in question is the infam"

"Spike," Willow interrupted. "Also known as William Pratt, or William the Bloody. Slayer of Slayers. Killed the slayer Xin Rong during the Boxer Rebellion in June, year 1900. He killed your mother in a Subway train heading south before looting her corpse of a leather coat he used up until his disappearance last year."

Faith smirked as Willow repeated the facts that she had found after Buffy informed her, two years ago, of Spike's previous kills.

"He also caused, through his ineptitude and bloodlust, the death of Buffy Summers when he was her, our, ally during the final battle against the hellgod Glorificus. His role in the matter is not as well-documented but I will one day provide a detailed account of the entire affair, for posterity."

Wood kept his cool exterior as he moved to gain control of the meeting.

"Thank you, that's... very informative. It does lead me to my follow up questions. First, why did you two work together with a vampire?"

"Hey," Faith protested. "I never worked with the bleached tool. I was serving time for murder two at the time, thank you very much!"

Willow groaned as Faith decided to drop all pretense of civility. "Yeah, Faith wasn't part of our group at the time. AND, she is a free woman after a full and complete pardon and is today a contributing member of society! But, to answer your question, the group worked with him because he helped out and we needed help. He had a chip implanted by the government that prevented him from feeding or harming human beings. He could still hurt vampires and demons, though, so he was a useful asset."

He nodded grimly, not appreciating what he has been told. It lined up with what Buffy had told him and it didn't seem logical that a Slayer would cooperate with any vampire, especially one as infamous as Spike.

"Okay then. Second question, do you know where he went after he disappeared about a year ago?"

Faith snickered as she replied. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's _in the wind_."

The Principal sighed as Willow covered her mouth to hide the sly grin.

"Okay, truth. He is dust. His chip stopped working, he seriously hurt a friend of ours, killed a man and then tried to kill both of us. As a result, Faith drove a stake into him that I lit on fire and we watched as he finally departed this world, hopefully never to return."

"...hopefully?"

Faith shrugged. "People don't stay dead like they oughta. Sorry to rain on your vengeance parade. I'd give you the number to an infamous vengeance demon but we beheaded her about... Four months ago I think? She only serviced women, anyway, so probably wouldn't be of much help. Anyanka was picky that way."

"Anyanka? Do you mean Anya, the former fiance of one Alexander Harris who was found decapitated four... months... ago..."

Willow nodded with less humor than Faith. Anya had been somewhat of a friend, once, even if it all ended horribly. "Yeah, Anya was a vengeance demon. Well, first she wasn't. First she was just Aud, witch in 9th century Sweden. Then she became Anyanka, demon. Then Anya, ex-demon. Then Anyanka the demon again and finally Anyanka, the ex-living."

"I see... Okay, final question then. I realize this may seem rather petty but when you finally slayed Spike"

Faith interrupted again. "Sorry, we couldn't get the coat off. It's as dust as the rest of him."

He nodded. "What did he do towards your friend that led you to finally act against him?"

The women looked at eachother and shook their heads, without a word, and then turned back to him as Willow responded. "That's not for us to tell, or even to say what friend we're talking about. All we can say is that it led to both of us finding it impossible to not end him, for good."

He nodded slowly, resigned to the fact that while he will never personally get his revenge, the murderer of his mother is finally gone.

"One more thing, Principal Wood? I wonder if you could provide some extra leeway for your student Dawn Summers and Amanda... Err, I forgot Amanda's name but she's Dawn's best friend, ask their teachers. They are both essential in the ongoing war against the First Evil and as the son of a renowned Slayer, you must know the toll the Good Fight takes on our private lives?"

He smiled, appreciating that they asked and that they seemingly had their priorities straight.

"I think I can arrange some special deal. I'm headed over to Summers tomorrow to visit her sister and check out the entire operation. Will I find the two of you there?"

Faith scoffed as she stood up and shook her head.

"Nah, we're not exactly BFFs with General B these days. We fight together but live seperate, have fun though and say hi to Shieldy, err, Dawn from me!"

He stood up and shook their hands as they were departing. Just before Willow left the room to close the door, she turned back.

"Oh, by the way? You're much better than Principal Snyder."

"Oh yeah, what actually happened to him during the 'Gas Leak' explosion four years ago?

She grinned. "He got eaten by a gigantic snake that used to be our mayor. Don't worry, we got revenge with a bomb I had designed that blew the mayor, and the entirety of Sunnydale High, into very tiny pieces."

He didn't get the chance to respond before she closed the door and caught up with Faith.

"Red, are you sure you don't wanna join him at Fort Summers tomorrow? I'm sure the brat would start crappin' rainbows in excitement if you were to drop by."

Willow's good mood evaporated swiftly.

"Ugh I don't get it. I've said no in every way but the violent one, and even that I fear she'd actually see as a turn-on, but she just refuse to take the hint. She knows I'm taken, for good, and she knows I'm not really welcome over there anymore but she just refuse to leave me the friggin' heck alone! I'm afraid Tara will start thinking I'm actually interested in Kennedy and be mad, or worse, worry I'll cheat on her. I never could cheat on her, she knows that right? She must know that, she is everything to me!"

Faith draped her arm over Willow's shoulder and grinned.

"Nil sweat, Red. She knows you got it bad for her. Everyone knows you got it wicked bad. Besides, from what T tells me you give a hummer like nobody else!"

Willow just knew she would have to Google the meaning of that when she got home.

She did do just that and both blushed and beamed in pride of the remark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wiktionary: Hummer - _oral gratification_
> 
> Also, having to Google the California AoC laws to double-check the loophole probably put me on a number of watchlists. I'm kinda proud that I had to research the matter though cause if I knew it for sure, off-hand, then it would be pretty weird.


	11. March 18, 2003

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faith leave, Willow and Tara leave and Cordelia leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTE This chapter break my 'try to avoid existing scripts as much as I can' as I really like the Orpheus exchanges and wanted to keep as much as possible of them, up to a point. Why fix what ain't broken?
> 
> Don't worry, won't happen often.

_This week should be awesome but it just sucks. Two days ago Faith was called to LA because the idiots there manage to lose Angel's soul, setting Angelus loose upon the world. On top of that there's a war starting in Iraq any day now and all I wanted was for Faith to be with us when I had my early graduation today. So, uh yay for me. I finished college. Sure, party college but considering the extracurricular activities and that addiction problem and almost dying several times and my psych professor got killed after almost trying to kill my best friend and unleashing a demonoid on the world so yeah considering all that I think graduating with 4.0 GPA is pretty damn good._

_Now to stop the end of the world that I caused and be ready to join the workforce. One step at a time._

_Anyway, Faith is missing and right now I'm taking a little break from our super-intense study session. As soon as Wesley called her she jumped on a motorbike(who's bike? We don't know and we didn't ask but she didn't have the keys or a helmet, problem for another day) and got gone. Dawn is here, so is Tara, but Dawnie is a bit mad at her for leaving without even a goodbye in person. We've tried to explain just how much Faith has relied on Angel and owe him her life but I'm not sure she ever told Dawn just how bad it went at times. Gonna need to remind her to talk it through with Dawnie before things turn sour._

_But that complete eclipse over LA is gone now, apparently. It was kinda weird, apparently lots of riots and murder and mayhem so no wonder Angelus felt the need to go hog wild._

_We've been researching a way to tinker with the Ritual of Restoration for when they need to put that soul back in Angel's body. Dawnie had an idea that we've been working with that would remove the souley escape clause of the curse, making it a curse that allows for him to get a happy with Buffy if they want to do that._

_Pssh, like there needs to be an 'if' clause to that statement. WHEN they want to get a happy they should be able to._

_Girls are calling, back to work!_

  
_***_

  
_Took less time than I thought but we got it! Like it was fated, even, because only two or three minutes later Fred called and said that Faith is ill and Angelus is captured. We sent Dawn home, she doesn't know how bad it is and she would only stress anyway, and we're now in the truck towards LA. No, I'm not driving. It's time to bring Faith back and shove that soul so far up Angel's ass he'll be burping regret for the rest of the week._

_Okay I might've had a couple of mochas too many today._

_Worth it!_

  
***

  
The witches approached the front door of the Hyperion Hotel when they heard arguing the inside. Wesley was currently directing the shouting match.

"There's only one thing we can do for Faith now. We can finish what she started!

"You mean, re-ensoul Angel?" Fred seemed worried and Willow knew why, they didn't really have much in talent with spells. Wesley knew a bit and was very booklearned but Angel Investigations was known for their physical prowess and smarts, not their magical power.

"Impossible." they heard Connor whine and Willow wondered if that was the only way he knew how to communicate. "We've been over this: no jar, no soul. No soul, no Angel.

Tara looked to Willow and whispered. "Why are we still waiting out here?"

"We need a dramatic moment to enter, can't just walk in willy nilly. You know that we witches have a mystic reputation to maintain, especially with those who didn't see me drunk under the table wearing a skimpy outfit at Halloween."

Tara rolled her eyes with a smirk but decided to entertain her girl as they listened to Fred's plea for reason.

"It's not that simple, Connor. I've been doing some research and"

"It is simple. Angelus is all that's left. First he slaughtered Lilah, now he's killed Faith."

Both of them froze. Faith had died? Didn't they just talk about her like she was alive?

"She's not dead yet," they heard Wesley state and both relaxed again, a bit more shaken to the core.

"You're lying to yourselves. You all think that I'm taking this personally so that you don't have to, but inside you know I'm right. We need to put Angelus down."

Willow nodded and opened the door, knowing this was their que. She took the lead. "I don't think so."

Tara smirked, happy with their timing. "I think you need a pair of witches."

The stare they received from trio served as the proof that they timed that perfectly. Willow walked up to the front desk while Tara sat down at the love seat in the middle of the lobby, deploying the supplies they needed for the ensoulment.

"Did we come at a bad time?" Wesley's smile of gratitude served as perfect response.

"Wait, you're a witch too?"

She sighed and just knew that he didn't pay attention to the briefings of aftermath when he helped rescue her last summer. Still, he did provide aid without any reason for it so she would try to cut him some slack and gave him a wide smile as response.

"Yes, I am. Thank you again for being part of the effort so save my sorry behind last year. It was kind of you."

"I'm Connor."

She kept the smile despite groaning inwardly. "And the sneer is genetic, who knew?"

"Hi girls! Glad to see you both, standing and sober!"

Fred hugged Willow and then Tara as greeting.

"Hey Fred, good to see you again!" She turns to Wesley. "Oh, and it's the Marlboro Man. Or at least his extra stubbly, mentally unstable, insomniac, first cousin of oh for the love of _Alsnotra_ , baby you need to stop me!"

Fred giggles. "No, it's OK. We're all babbling chicks in this room."

Wesley continued the increasingly futile attempt to keep the group on target. "Are there forces gathering? Did the call of magic draw you here?"

Tara stood up and folded the now empty bag. "Oh, no. More like the call of Fred."

Wesley nodded. "Of course. Bring in the only living person to ever re-ensoul Angel."

"They both have fresh brains. I thought they might see some things we missed."

Willow smiled in response but knew that time was of the essence. "We should probably start the debriefing. Where's Cordy?"

"Unfortunately, the guy you're all trying to magically re-ensoul shot her with a crossbow. She's not up for visitors." Connor didn't inherit the charm that his father often possessed, according to Willow.

"I think she'll want to see Willow," Wesley advised. "After all, she's traveled a long way, and they have a history together."

Willow shook her head. "No, I'm okay. We got plenty of time to talk once Faith is better and Angel is all souled up and good to go."

The spell to release the soul from its' captivity took both time and effort and was interrupted several times by some outside force with knowledge of their plans and who was very adept with demonic magic. Wesley claimed it was the hidden entity known as the Beastmaster, the puppeteer who's been behind the chaos in LA the last couple of weeks.

The magic duel continued for a while, Tara channeling her support to boost Willow's strength, until they decided to change tactics. Tara cut her support, weakening Willow temporarily, but then completely redirected her not impotent power to shield her lover from the magic, letting her focus completely on releasing Angel's captive soul.

The switch was so fast and uncalled for that the soul was quickly released to the aether. The couple immediately moved to the second stage of the ensoulment and started chanting their new, improved ritual of restoration.

Fred sat down during the switch and looked around after having been enthralled by the mystical struggle. "Hey, where'd Connor go? He shouldn't have run off like that."

As the two witches started to chant the ritual's verses, Connor took the chance to sneak into the basement where they kept Angelus. Tara felt something was off and looked in that general direction but saw nothing, she was just a moment too late. She closed her eyes and returned to the chant, not wanting to risk failure. Seconds after she did so a recently awoken, and quite angry, Faith sprinted past them and towards the basement without uttering a word in greeting.

The people in the lobby never noticed that Connor knocked Gunn out or that he tried to stake his father. They also failed to realize that Faith had not only woken up but also beaten the attempted patricider into a rather sullen and sore loser.

After Connor passed out, none would ever find out about the emotional hug the vampire and the slayer shared. No passion, no lust, only gratitude and joy being sent both ways.

Faith pulled away with a smile. "Hey."

"How're you feeling?"

"Like I did mushrooms and got eaten by a bear."

"That about sums it up."

Faith nodded with a grin.

"And now you're going back to Sunnydale."

"I think I prefer the bear, but my girl and the fight continues over there, a fight that is bigger than what any of us have faced before."

He shrugs. "Never stop fighting."

"Hey, I was gonna, but someone got all pep-talky on me. Thanks for that, by the way, Shieldy would've been pissed if the girls came back without me."

He stretched his neck. "I have a lot to thank you for, too. Who's Shieldy?"

She gives a smile and a shrug. "It's Dawn. Yeah, that Dawn. B ain't too happy 'bout it but none of us can give two shits."

"Right. We can't have that. Wanna go back upstairs and greet Willow and her friend?"

Faith laughed when she realized that Angel had no idea who Tara actually was to Willow. They walked upstairs and are greeted by Willow's huge grin and Tara's relief.

"Hey, Connor knocked out Gunn and tried to kill us both. Might want to repurpose that cage down there."

Wesley frowned and went downstairs to ensure they were okay. Fred chose that moment to exit the office with a large, and very ancient, tome in hand. "I think this volume's outdated. You girls know better than me, but there's some interesting stuff about hellmouths in it that might help.

Tara showed her gratitude with a warm smile. "This is great."

Fred continued as if she were alone in the room with the girls. "I have to say, someday I'd love to bend your ears about the Pergamum Codex. I-I think some of the really obscure passages are actually Latin translated from a demonic tongue, and they're kind of a hoot." She giggled, overjoyed with finding someone as interested in the science behind magic as she was. "All this stuff about Bacchanals and spells and, err, actually I think it's probably funnier in Latin. You know how that is sometimes."

"Oh, that reminds me Will, we never found out if the Bacchanal in the Wicca group was a real one or just some euphemism for a stupid fundraiser."

Faith decided to butt in, she'd heard the word before. "Hey, what is a real Bacchanal anyway?"

Tara tried to hide her blush as she put the tome into their bag of supplies. "A drunken orgy, known to be extremely debauched."

"Wicked, remember to invite me next time!"

Willow grinned and turned to Fred and Angel. "Oh, um, next time you guys resurrect Angelus, call me first, OK? Because, I got a bit of a surprise for you all."

Angel was curious, what more could they offer than his life back?

Tara decided to drop the bomb. "You see, we did some thinking. Well, we and Dawnie, she was great! We managed to find a way to get rid of your soul's escape clause in the curse. So it's kinda nailed down now."

He was stunned. How could she be so cruel to jest about something like that?

Faith slapped him, hard, on the back when she realized they weren't messing with him.

"So hey, that means you can come with us and give B a wicked happy. She's kinda off her game right now so it would do us all a solid. Not as much of a solid as she'd receive, though!"

Willow and Fred started to laugh, loudly, and didn't even notice the heavily pregnant Cordelia come down the stairs until Tara's mood did a 180.

"W-Willow? Sweetie? Something's wrong."

"Who's this? And have you never seen a pregnant woman before," Cordelia asked in a way that brought shudders to Willow as she recalled years of torment at the hands of Queen C.

"Tare, what's wrong with Cordelia?" Willow moved to her partner and gently held her hand in support.

"Who's the father of the child, C-Cordelia?" Tara was afraid but refused to let herself be consumed by panic. The aura that 'Cordelia' broadcast was one of immeasurable evil and possession. Whoever she was, she was not Cordelia.

"Connor, obviously. Where is he, anyway?"

"I had to put him down for a while, he tried to go all Oedipus on Angel but now I believe I was a wee bit too late. Didn't you use to change his diapers?" Faith had noticed the distress in Tara but tried to act cool, slowly inching towards the weapon cabinet a couple of yards away.

"Angel, are you really going to let two witches and a broken slayer come in here and beat your son but also threaten your grandson? What kind of father are you?"

His features darkened. He didn't know this Tara but she was obviously important to both Willow and Faith. He trusted Faith more than almost any other and Willow had just helped give him yet another lease on life, one that would be a game changer like never before. Cordelia had betrayed him repeatedly ever since she returned, Connor had never stopped betraying him, and this was the final straw.

"Tara, is it? What is wrong with Cordy?"

The brown-haired witch turned to him, fear and sadness in her eyes. "She is not the Cordelia you know. Her soul isn't in there. She is possessed by something old, something elder, and the spawn inside her is even worse. None of them are human, whoever the old Cordelia was before, she's gone now. There's no trace of her."

Cordelia's smug expression fell and a frown soon took its' place. "Oh crap, didn't realize that Willow's girlfriend was a soulreader. I really don't have time for this anymore."

She raised her hand and Faith flew backwards, crashing next to the weapon cabinet.

"Baby, you're sure Cordelia is 100% gone?" Tara nodded at her. "Then we have to finish this."

They stood up, fingers entwined, and acted without any plan but in perfect synchronicity. Cordelia threw a ball of demonic fire at them but it dissipated without a scratch as Tara started to glow white, her hair turning pale and her eyes becoming like pure pearls.

Angel took the chance to rush his former paramour-to-be but she withdrew a bottle of holy water, kept hidden under her dress in case Angelus got out of the cage again, and smashed it in his face to force him back.

Willow started to glow red as a counterpart to her girlfriend, her hair tossing like if she were in a wind tunnel, and her eyes turned crimson.

_"Hata myrkr, hata oradd, enda goddga, fara örendislaust."_

Cordelia's eyes grew wide in horror. She was expecting strong magic, the being possessing her had heard of Willow's growth the last few years, and she was even prepared to combat dark magic. She was not prepared for Seidh magic as that was almost never seen in the region, especially not since she had the Svear eliminated early on. The fact that Willow could act without having to focus on defense or counterspells meant that without Connor, Cordelia was about to be captured. She was stuck, the spirit in her being turn from the vessel. It would utterly destroy them both.

"Alright, I surrender. Let me go and I'll give Cordelia her body back."

Faith walked up to her, a magic blade from the locker that almost called for her, in hand.

"Witches, you certain the soul's completely and irreversibly gone?"

They nodded as one, without any hint of emotion.

Angel was too late to react as Faith swung the blade. He wanted to try another option, to see if there was a chance to save Cordelia, but before he could even get close she was down on the ground, beheaded. He looked at the corpse in horror, realizing there was no blood pouring out, and soon the body and head started gaining heat.

Tara reacted the quickest and put up a barrier around the body, seconds before it exploded. When she released the shielding only smoke remained, nothing of the spirit that possessed the woman and the unborn child remained.

The spirit was completely annihilated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, in case you didn't notice, my entire concept here was from a thought I had when I recently rewatched Orpheus(probably my favorite Angel episode) with my wife.
> 
> "Hey, if Tara was still alive(and she should've been if ME wasn't dumb and just had to go all Bury Your Gays and[cut rant that always come up when I talk about the end of S6 but my wife tune out by now because she's heard it all]) and had joined Willow to LA, wouldn't she immediately notice that Cordelia's aura is all screwed up by some demonic power and tell the others?"
> 
> Would've saved us a really dumb plot that was part of the worst storyline in the entirety of the Buffyverse. And yes, that includes the Mechadawn and depowering in Tibet stories in S8.
> 
> But hey, ME just can't stop shitting on the strong non-Buffy women of their shows. Seriously, the bodycount of the main and secondary women in the shows is quite staggering. And when they're not killed they need to be brought down so low that they have to be saved by the sexist, inept and pretty damn uncomfortable Zeppo of the group.
> 
> Gonna stop here to make sure I'm not starting another rant about everything post-Entropy.


	12. March 22, 2003

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Funeral, Plans for the Future and Mustering of the Troops

_Oh girl, Here is a poor Willowy girl just wanted to go to LA with the love of her life, pick up her best friend, help out an old friend(again!) and then come back home._

_Easy peasy lemon squeezy, right? Yeah right, not according to some asshole ex-Power That Be who decided attempted to pull off an early apocalypse while we were distracted with our big one. On the other hand, it was pretty funny when I told Giles what we were up to. "Oh not much. Re-ensouled Angel, for good this time, and accidently ended another apocalypse. Oh, we also saw Johnny Depp outside a Starbucks!"_

_The funeral for poor Cordelia was bittersweet. We arranged it for nighttime, as usual when it comes to us, and Buffy was nice and let the baby slayers act as a kind of honor guard for the fallen Champion. Harmony was even allowed to attend, she was as vapid as she's ever been but she was happy she was part of it, Cordelia was her best friend in life and undeath after all._

_Cordy's mom attended but her father is still incarcerated for tax fraud. None of them ever knew of the heroic deeds that Cordy's been up to. I knew less than half of what she's been doing since she moved to LA. I'm glad she was happy there, for a while at least._

_Angel Investigation has shut down business, by the way. Angel said he's done with LA. Connor actually agreed with him._

_Oh yeah, Connor. After we stopped the PTB he went kind of bananas. It took about four hours of Tara and Faith talking him down, explaining that it wasn't really his child(okay so they fibbed a bit, it's for the greater good) and that the real Cordelia was dead since he had been a baby(technically true) and possessed with a demon._

_So the entire fang gang have now joined the fight. Angel, Connor, Justine(who was out with Lorne on an errand while we were helping Angel and Faith) and Gunn(who had apparently ended things with Fred. They seemed so happy last time we met, how sad) are all staying with Buffy while Fred, Wesley and Lorne are now part of the House of Sappho. Lorne asked us to put up red curtains and play some Indigo Girls in the background to really sell the motif while Wesley have remained remarkably stiffy-upper-lippy about it, to Dawn's disappointment._

_Dawn and Amanda have both moved here, too. You see, once Angel came back Buffy told Dawnie that from now on, Buffy wouldn't be sharing her room with the two potentials that used to sleep in there. So, they now shared room with Dawnie. And Kennedy. And Amanda. And Vi. While Buffy slept alone. I'm sure it's a coincidence that Angel is now able to do the funky tango with her._

_So Dawn had enough. She packed her most important clothes and stuff and came here. She moved in with Faith, problem solved. She also brought Amanda but she's a gem and we made space for her near Fred, it almost feels like they've been trying to outnerd me ever since they met. ME! Gotta teach 'em a lesson one of these days._

_Buffy didn't even argue and when I talked to Angel he confided in me that she actually seemed relieved to have more space for her soldiers. **Damn** that's a cruel thing to say when your sister feels like she's being driven out of her own home. I'm keeping that tidbit for myself, Dawnie does NOT need to hear it right now. Or ever. Angel said she expect Dawn to move right back in when the crisis is over, that everything would be back to normal, but he has already seen how... broken she's become._

_Oh, and the blade that Faith used to kill that spirit possessing Cordelia? That was the Hope's Dagger. Yes, the sword was called a dagger. It was forged by an ancient Champion for the PTBs and is able to actually hit the First Evil. We still can't kill it but if Faith can drive that thing through it then it can no longer appear as dead people, greatly limiting its' ability to lead their minions and terrorize us while we're in the shower._

_Amanda did not have a fun morning when that happened. Poor girl._

_Apparently Xander tried to hit on Justine when she moved it. According to reports(from a laughing Kennedy) he almost pissed himself when she replied. Poor guy, he should've known he had no chance. Justine is human, after all, and have always been._

_As far as I know._

_Gotta ask Tara if she's detected something else._

  
_***_

  
_Nope, human. Deeply scarred and probably psychotic but when has that ever been a problem with these people?_

_Oh yeah, we took Fred with us in the truck when we went home. On the way, we almost drove over a stabbed Potential on the road. We now have a human-ish henchman in play for the First Evil, sending Slayergrams written in blood. Great. Just freakin' great._

_Girl survived, she's Giles' problem now. I know, that seems rough, but we got other stuff to worry about. Aaaand now I see that everyone is here, time to start._

  
***

  
The House of Sappho was crowded. With the arrival of parts of the LA crew as well as the two teenagers the apartment was filled to the limit. Dawn, Amanda, Faith and Fred all tried to fit in the couch while Lorne, Wesley and Tara each had a chair by the dining room table. Willow put her journal to the side and started to pace. Then she paused, as if to say something, only to start pacing again. Then she paused, then paced. After the fourth time, Tara put her hand on Willow's shoulder with a smile and she finally began.

"Okay, first of all, this must stay in this room. We are not betraying anyone, or running away, but this has to do with something that I, Tara, Faith and Dawn discussed yesterday evening. You see, we're leaving Sunnydale once this is over. For good."

Lorne nodded. He had found out their plans when Tara sang in the shower that morning but kept their scheme a secret. After all, he knew Willow was honest when she said they were not leaving before the end.

Amanda, however, was in shock, not having seen this coming in a thousand years. These people were the protectors of Sunnydale, they had fought and bled for years and were local legends amongst the teens in the city and now what? Now they were leaving the city to die?

"If we survive, and that's a big if, we're taking our truck and leaving town. We've started to prepare our package lists already and unfortunately, we're not going to be able to bring anyone else. We're willing to help you all find your ways wherever you need to go but we do not have infinite resources and we got a lot less money than we could've gotten due to the quick sale of our home."

Amanda raised her hand. Willow hated what they were doing to the poor girl but they couldn't grab a random teen and just run away, it wouldn't be fair to her or them.

"Uhh, where would I go? My parents have left town and they never even left a message as to where they were going. I don't want to stay here alone!"

Wesley and Fred had been whispering quietly, still listening to the others, and then nodded in unison before Wesley spoke up.

"It may be a bit impulsive, rash even, but Fred and I have a suggestion. I'm a former Watcher with some experience with being a mentor to a member of the Slayer line and Fred is well-experienced in the supernatural world, including five years in a hell dimension. If you wish, we could act as your Watchers, without the old Council's inane regulations and archaic traditions, and train you both mentally and physically while you continue your journal to adulthood and either become a Slayer or join the natural world. We both have some roots in Los Angeles, if that works for you, and we'll be able to arrange a housing situation we'll you have room, funding as well as access to schooling."

Amanda didn't need much time to think. Even before her parents abandoned her when they found out about the Potential deal they were not what one would call 'attentive.' Or 'loving.' Or often, 'there.' She was out of money from what she had saved up from summer jobs in the past and had scant few possessions left. If Dawn's chosen family vouched for this pair (and she had met Fred during the Halloween party and they got along really well) then she'd trust them.

"O-okay. I'll do my best to make it worth it!"

Fred beamed a smile and gave her a side hug.

"Of course you will hun, there's no chance you won't outshine us all!"

Lorne followed the exchange and waited for the lull in the meeting to say his peace.

"I'll just hitch a ride with you sweet pies back to LA and I'll be set, that works okay for you Freddykins?"

She nodded before looking to Wesley to see that he was on the same page. He was, and the matter was settled. Willow regained control of the small gathering and continued.

"Okay. Next part of the agenda. This morning, we put up the apartment for sale and it's already gone. It's cheap and newly renovated and in a good location. We've been paid and are moving out at the end of April but the way things are going, I doubt we'll be forced to rent a room. I think that we're either all dead or dancing the victory mambo by then. Just don't make me make a bet on which one."

Faith looked up from the fingernail she was currently using a throwing dagger to clean.

"Hey Red, what does this mean for our designation? Are we going to be the Sappho Mobile in the future? Or the Tenderloin Truck?"

Willow shook her head, displaying a mock serious frown as she tapped harshly towards her yellow legal pad.

"No, I already got a suggestion there but it's only point four of the agenda, we're not there yet. Point three is Dawn's toy surprise!"

Wesley rolled his eyes and retrieved a thin map case from his pile of stuff in the corner. He handed it to Dawn who opened it and retrieved a black rubber handle, roughly 2 foot long.

"That there was made by my weapon supplier Emil on special order. But, it was designed by Willow after some earlier discussion you had a while ago, from what I understood."

Dawn was already moving towards the most open area of the apartment, the space between the couch. She flipped the switch of the large handle and both sides extended in range. One had a sharp blade, made for both piercing and cutting, while the other had a sharpened wooden end made of lignum vitae, the strongest type of wood in this dimension. The entire shaft was made from the rock-hard material, other than the rubber grip and metallic blade. She performed a series of practiced katas and tested the balance and length, finding it far from wanting in any of those aspects. She turned to the group with a wide smile.

"It's perfect! Just like how I imagined it when you suggested it Will, thank you both! Gonna dust so many biters with this baby."

Will nodded with a wide grin. "It's nothing! We can't have you running around with a spear everytime you want to leave the house, right? That's why we also got a holster around here somewhere that you can use to discreetly attach it to your leg for quick access, get some extra use of those long walkers you're packing! Now, for the fourth and final part on the agenda; the new name!" Her mock frown returned. "Jonathan called us the Outlaws and it seems to have stuck with the Potentials. I say we go simple."

Faith shrugged with a smile. "If it makes us seem cool to the potentials then it'll also bug General B, true? I'm all for it! Shieldy, T, you wanna veto?"

None of them cared that much about the inane naming conventions they used. They were just slowly going insane by waiting for the end to begin and were doing whatever they could to postpone the madness. As such, the Outlaws got their future name by disinterest in not making up a better one. Jonathan would later claim that it was clearly unbeatable due to the innate awesomeness so why would anyone even try to do better?

The 'meeting' adjourned and Faith joined Dawn on the balcony to check out her girlfriend getting used to her new weapon. And to light a smoke, she was only human. Willow returned to preparing their bags for moving out, wondering how much time they had to solve the Dawn-is-a-minor situation when Tara received a call from Buffy that ended almost as fast as it had begun.

"Sweetie, we all need to go to Buffy. She says it's time to muster the troops for war."

Willow's blood ran cold. They might be out of time. Not just to pack, but completely out of time in general.

  
***

  
"So that's the plan. We load up, go out in force and attack this Caleb guy's base in the Shadow Valley Vineyards. We take no prisoners, show no quarter. That preachy buttwipe claim he got something for me and I'm going to collect what's mine. We're all going there, it's time to act like the army we have pretended to be! We go in three groups. First group is me, Angel, Xander, Caridad, Rona, Molly, Kennedy, Vi, Wood, Jonathan and Gunn. Second group that follows five minutes after is Faith's gang, excluding Dawn, Tara and Amanda, and they're joined by Smithstone, Justine, Wesley and Fred."

She paused, moving her gaze across the room to ensure she had the attention of all the Potentials before turning towards Giles.

"Third group is the reserves, ready to either cover our retreat or push in to finish the battle and that's the rest of you, including ALL you Potentials. Giles in charge of the reserves while Tara will provide protective and restorative support. If you're taken out of the fight, crawl back outside and she'll help you. Dawn, you'll aid her with patching people up if necessary, I don't want you in the battle. Connor, I need you to keep Tara safe no matter what. No rushing in without her and in no way let us lose such an important asset."

Connor locked to Angel who responded with a nod, leading the one-year old to turn his gaze back at Buffy. "I can protect the _witch_ ," the final word was uttered with a sneer. His loathing for magic was well-known by now and it had started to spread amongst some of the Potentials, according to Jonathan.

Buffy's speech wasn't directly bad, Willow could admit, but it was far from enough to lift the low spirits of the gathered fighters completely. She especially hated how Buffy had lost all sense of camaraderie with her old friends and allies, punctuated with her referring to Tara as an 'asset'. And she _knew_ that there was some discord in the ranks about Buffy keeping Dawn off the lines, especially with the younger sister herself who was a better fighter than all of the Potentials. Fort Summers had gotten some moral boostage, mainly through the arrival of the three demon-hunting soldiers Graham, Sam(who, to Willow's great surprise, had not divorced her dirtbag husband) and Riley Finn. The thunderdome-esque one-on-one battle with the Turok-Han that Buffy won, rather efficiently, didn't hurt morale either.

The evacuation and emptying of the Magic Box, as well as the shutdown of the schools and many business, took its' toll though. As did the very crowded living situation and inability to leave the compound without approval. Every day, thousands of people were leaving the dwindling city and soon there'd be nothing left but them and the monsters.

The Fort Summers living/briefing room was crowded to capacity, despite losses they've sustained during the war, but most of the warriors were the Potentials who-while having some minor innate advantages when it came to fighting vampires-were mundane teenage girls, some as young as thirteen years old.

But they also had plenty of trained and experienced fighters. Angel was now the second-in-command amongst Buffy's camp and his old allies from the Angel Investigations team provided experience and skill in abundance. Relations between the different groups and sub factions were constantly in a flux and Willow hoped a common goal and a clear target could unify them until the end of the war.

"Wait, what's with the green demony guy? Why do we let a demon listen in to our strategizing?" Vi asked, meekly. She had retreated to her earlier mousy behavior once Amanda and Dawn moved out and had a hard time getting close with her new roommates.

Lorne sighed. He knew this would come up some day, it's why he had elected to pitch his tent with the more flexible group at the House of Sappho.

"Trust me gingersnaps, I have no interest in letting some gauche know-it-all take over the world and bring down all that's glorious. Especially me, I've already lived in one dimension without love and music and I'll be slapstacked if I'm going let it happen here too!"

Angel nodded in agreement. It was strange to see the broodiest member of their force being so loyal to the most flashy and extrovert of them but one thing Angel couldn't be fault for was his extreme loyalty to his friends and allies.

"Yeah. And, let's be fair, he's not the only demon here. A soul isn't the only thing that inhabit these old bones, remember?"

A dark girl Willow knew as Rona butted in. "Yeah but the jury is still out on why we're letting you hang around, too."

Just as the room was about to break down arguing, Buffy moved to stop the infighting before it began.

"The jury already made its' decision and Angel is a critical part of this force, end of discussion. Now, 'House of Sappho,'" everyone could hear the strain in her voice as she used their chosen nomenclature, "anything you'd like to add to the plan?"

Faith, Tara, Dawn and Willow did a quick huddle. Even though they had more people living with them, they were the core of the group and the others trusted their decisions in matters such as these. After about a minute of quiet whispering and obvious frustration, they split apart and Willow spoke up.

"Ahem, Buff? There's the old prophecy we talked about on the phone the other day. The one Cassie gave me? It spoke of the Hellmouth, remember? I still think that's where we should be going and we should be go as a group, basically."

Buffy groaned. She has had just about enough with old prophecies, visions, dreams and other sooth-sayery nonsense.

"I remember. And I realized that I have broken prophecies before, you know that. So, I'm going to find this thing that has been taken from me, from us, and I hope the continued support in this war that you guys gave me is still in place? Or are we going to split up again and start working behind each others' backs?"

Willow bit her bottom lip in frustration. Buffy was goading her, trying to undermine their authority by publicly shaming them into submission. Willow hated this.

"We'll follow you, B." Faith decided to answer for them. "Can't blame Red for answering when you asked her if she had something to chip in, right?"

Buffy nodded, accepting the implied fealty. "That's 'Wicked', F. Now go home to rest and arm up, we'll outside the Sun Cinema at 1900 hours. Be there on time!"

As the gathered forces dispersed and old friends started to intermingle, Willow remained seated and stared at her former best friend. She knew that both the witches were drained after the fight with the Power That Be that possessed Cordelia and she knew Buffy knew it as well. They were rushing into this and it was going to end up as a catastrophe. She glanced at Faith and - as if she could read her mind - the Slayer nodded her agreement of the situation.

They were in trouble.

  
***

  
_Late evening, the day before._

The funeral was over. Willow, Tara, Faith and Dawn were on their way to the Espresso Hut while the rest had dispersed to the different strongholds. Xander had been despondent, he had thought Cordelia would've been safe away from Sunnydale but here was another one of the most important people in his life just dead, gone forever. He and Jonathan had shared some stories on how Cordy had grown over the later years at Sunnydale High, how she was still outwardly the Queen Bitch of Sunnyhell High but how she could offer a comforting word in private, a glance of sympathy that did more for the outcasts than she would ever realize.

The small group sat down in their favorite booth, their usual orders in front of them but none with any interest in touching their coffees. Tara was the first one to speak up, turning to Willow as she did so but kept her eyes on her untouched drunk, too afraid to look her girlfriend in the eyes.

"Sweetie, I can't stay in this city. I have to get out of h-here, soon."

Willow turned pale, her brain in complete meltdown. 'Oh God she finally grew tired of me she realized I can't be saved I've done too much she can do better she can live in peace I can't stop her she must be able to live and have a family and be happy and she can't do that with me.'

Tara sat silent, not noticing the glares from the other couple or the series of emotions playing out in her girl's expression. After half a minute, she realized that she wouldn't get an answer. She was expecting to be yelled at, by all of them, and a look of disgust of Willow who would consider her a coward, a disloyal quitter.

When she saw how pale Willow was, how she was about to collapse in any moment, she realized her mistake. That wasn't anger, disgust or disappointment she saw. It was panic. Complete and utter panic.

"Oh Goddess no, Sweetie. I said that all wrong!"

Willow just looked into the distance, not turning and spending all her energy on keeping her voice leveled.

"No, that's okay. You are allowed to live your life, I'm just glad I got another chance when I did. I'm sorry for failing you again, I really tried."

Dawn realized what was going on and tried to intervene.

"Will, no! You don't get it. She doesn't mean"

Willow still didn't move, her unblinking eyes being locked on a street light outside the coffee shop.

"No Dawnie, I can't prevent Tara from making the choices that she feel is the best for her." She couldn't prevent the tears from escaping down her chin even as she kept her distant tone of voice. "Even when it's a choice that I might not wish for, it's still a choice I must respect. Otherwise, I'm not any better than I was to Tara when Buffy got back. Otherwise, I'm still the same."

Willow turned to Tara and looked into her eyes, her dead gaze allowed no interruptions.

"I love you baby, I always will. I hope you'll be happy and live for a long time where it's safe. I'm sorry I couldn't provide that for you."

Tara was about to be consumed by the panic herself and did the only thing she could think of; a deep and passionate kiss to reboot her lover's brain and prevent any further spiraling into the oblivion that was her deep anxieties. When she pulled away she kept her hands over the wet cheeks of her partner and never broke, or allowed Willow to try to break, eye contact. There would be no risk of misunderstanding now.

"Sweetie, listen to me. I mean we need to leave. You and me. Faith and Dawnie too, if they want, but I will not go anywhere with you. If you want to stay, I'll stay here with you. But I really hope you'll go with me somewhere else because this city is not just killing our friends and allies but it's killing our souls, our spirits. If we stay here, we're dead, and I really want to spend the rest of my life with you. Understood?"

She waited a while to let the paralyzed Willow respond.

"Will-o-witch, do you understand what I mean? You and me, forever?"

The whisper was almost inaudible. "Forever...?"

"Yes sweetie, forever my girl." Tara dared a smile.

That was enough to break through the fog that had been enveloping Willow's mental state. She pulled into Tara and gave her a kiss to rival their previous one and they spent a minute making the table companions very awkward as they rested their foreheads against each other.

Faith eventually decided to break through the weird vibes and get involved in the discussion.

"You're being pretty optimistic there, T. It seems less and less like we'll be able to end this mess at all, the prima ghost and his skids are winning this one."

Tara turned to her with a smile.

"I actually got an idea for that. You all know about Lorne's empathic readings, right?" The three girls nodded. "Well, unlike my aura-reading talent he get rough outlines of the readee's future. So, I'll sing a bit in the shower tomorrow, loud enough for him to hear, and his reaction to me will make it pretty obvious if we got a future at all."

Dawn suddenly looked very nervous in a way that highlighted her youth.

"But, uh, Tara? Can't that just mean that, well, you won't survive the final outcome?"

Willow nodded, knowing teen had a point, but then revitalized in an instant.

"Then we need a control group! You two should sing as well, I'll get Fred to join in and I'm preeeetty sure I can get a potential or two to join in. Giles too, I can guilt him into doing me a small favor, easily."

Tara relaxed considerably at the change in Willow's demeanor. They had avoided a crisis and Willow managed to steer away from the quickly approaching panic attack. "Great idea, sweetie. Just make sure you don't promise Kennedy something in return that I'll be jealous of." She flashed a teasing grin to make it very clear she trusted Willow's judgement. "I'll probe Lorne in the morning and then we inform the rest at our place that we're leaving once this war is over, okay? Afterwards, we'll each test Lorne and then we'll talk to him tonight, okay?"

Willow nodded approvingly. Tara hadn't noticed that Willow avoided getting herself read by the green-skinned former club owner. Dawn's expression displayed no signs that she had either while Faith gave a knowing, and somewhat disapproving, look at her friend.

Tara turned to the other couple. "So, what do you say? You girls wanna join us on a road trip without any real plans to stop?"

Faith grinned, widely, and looked at Dawn who followed suit. "Hell yes T, this is gonna be the most wicked ride since Thelma and Louise!"

Tara and Willow looked at each other nervously before turning to Faith.

"You, uh, do know what happened at the end of that movie?"

"I haven't even seen it, it was mom and Buffy's thing."

Faith shrugged. "Don't know how it ends, don't really care. Always turned it off after they blew that truck up, that was the shit and it could only go down from there."

Willow smiled giggled in approval before Dawnie refocused the discussion.

"Hell yeah I'm in, by the way. I'm not letting you girls leave with Fay while I'm stuck in this cesspit of despair!"

She fistbumped her girlfriend and Tara relaxed. The family wouldn't be broken up.

"W-wait, I just realized something. Dawnie is going to be a minor on the run, we'd all be up for kidnapping at a minimum."

Willow nodded, direly. "Not to mention the Wrath of the Buffster. The police is a minor annoyance compared to a Buffy who think she's right, which you know she will."

Faith smiled and relaxed in her seat as she poured some whiskey into her coffee. "I actually got a solution for that. You see, you'll never know who I dusted last night..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, reaching the end of S7 here. Some plots/episodes were ignored, skipped or only vaguely referenced as they happened off-POV or just didn't fit into the AU.
> 
> Decided to start with my outline of Part 3 already. Didn't wanna promise anything in case I got burned out(I mean, I'm writing this as I go and is rather proud at how far I actually got. Striking while the iron is hot and all that) but I'm pretty certain I'll want to finish my trilogy before moving on to anything else.
> 
> I'd guess there's three chapter left, maybe four, plus an epilogue/bridge into part three. Gonna be longer than average for this story too, less journal-y recaps and more drama.
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me! Remember, kudos and comments are extremely appreciated and feel free to link the piece to other interested parties/forums/tumblrs etc.


	13. March 23, 2003

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Highway Piracy, Mutiny and Faith's Payout

_Hey journal? Know that feeling you get when you're all 'assume crash position' before taking a big risk you know is gonna go bad but you do it anyway because you hope you're wrong and then everything actually ends up going well?_

_Yeah, neither do I._

_I'm currently sitting, in the rapidly emptying hospital at 2 AM, next to Xander's sickbed while Amanda sit outside to gimme a heads up of any attackers. Nobody else could be here for him. He's asleep so at least he can't be mad at me right now._

_So, the attack last night didn't go well. Rather the opposite._

_Plan was simple. Three teams. A-Team, Faith-Team(that's us! minus Dawn, Tara and Amanda) and then the Cannon Fodder and Triage Troops. A-Team goes in first, F-Team follow soon after and the reserves either reinforce or cover the retreat._

_Of course, simple doesn't mean good. Especially when you go in practically blind and without even knowing what you're looking for or what you're facing._

_The A-Team(Buffy's closest, the best baby slayers, Jonathan, Gunn and Principal Wood) went in as planned. Our team was gonna follow five minutes later but it only took two minutes for the screams to being. Screams from our side. We waited for a full minute before Faith took charge and we joined in._

_For the record, I think she did the right considering how little we had to work with. I was, and still am, exhausted after the LA trip and we were afraid we were gonna lose everyone down there due to General Buffy's stubbornness. And we almost did. By the time we got down to the fight in the basement there Molly was dead, Rona's missing an arm(it was broken off, not cut off) and both Jonathan and Kennedy were down. Not dead, just down._

_Buffy was holding off that Caleb preacher guy as best as she could. Mind you, that wasn't good enough, but it gave the rest of them the chance to handle his minions. Problem was that his minions outnumbered our full army, including the reserves._

_But we waded in. I sent a quick thought to Tara(I hate doing that, always gives me a headache) to prepare for wounded and be ready for a full retreat and Lorne started to carry Rona back up to the triage unit, Fred dragging Jonathan with him. I think that for once he was pretty happy with being kinda short or else he'd be a lot rougher to get out. Xander managed to rouse Kennedy but as he got her away Caleb got hold of him and put his damn eye out, just like that. If Faith hadn't attacked him from behind I would be sitting next to an empty bed here._

_Or, well, I wouldn't have because why would I do that but you know what I mean, right?_

_But that actually forced Buffy to react. She signalled for a retreat and we held Caleb and the Bringers back as well as we could while the A-Team was heading upstairs. I was the last one up but the preacher didn't follow me, he just remained down there as taunted us as we fled. Can't blame him, we were a sorry bunch and we were running from his remaining Harbingers who did not have any compulsion to stay down there._

_Then we got back upside and saw what was going on. A huge amount of Bringers, about the same amount that hid downstairs at the start of the ambush, had attacked our reserves from the rear. Several Potentials were down, for good, and Tara would've joined them if it weren't for Dawn. Connor had left his position(did so almost as soon as the reserves spotted the Bringers, according to Dawnie) so it was up to our brave Shieldmaiden to protect my girl. And what a job she did._

_I counted at least half a dozen cultist bodies around them when we arrived and she didn't let up her pace just because we were coming back, making good use of her new toy's capabilities. Tara did her best to provide temporary barriers for our people and tried to push them away as soon as things got too crowded but she was running out of juice, fast._

_Justine, Faith and I joined up with our girls while Wesley lead Xander towards our rallying point. Buffy got the remaining members of the A and F teams(those that were still standing and not carrying those who couldn't, that is) to hold the entranceway to the building we just left, preventing any Bringers from hitting us from behind._

_The chaos continued for five more minutes before the enemies retreated, all at once as if they shared a hive mind. The battle was still in the air but I believe their objective was made, they had us on the ropes and we could do nothing about it. We brought the wounded with us to the hospital but realized on the way that the entire city is evacuating, tonight. So while we got full access to the hospital and the medical supplies we're kind of out of doctors, nurses and surgeons._

_We already lost one girl to her wounds since we got here. Xander's eye is gone. Not damaged, just gone. In total we've lost six girls, including Molly, and fifteen have injuries of differing degrees of danger. I don't think anyone else will die of their injuries tonight but some of them will never recover completely. Not just Xander and Rona but the Chinese girl, the one who can't speak English? She lost half her left hand to a Bringer's blade. Only got the thumb and two fingers left and they'll never work properly again._

_So, this is where you'd expect Buffy to drop by and rally the troops, check in on her friends? Yeah, me too. But she's gone. Once we arrived at the hospital she took the uninjured and led them to Fort Summers and after that she walked out in the night, according to Wesley, and Angel followed her._

_Faith is trying to keep things together here but she is recovering from numerous cuts and bruises, some pretty deep, while Dawn stands vigil next to her._

_What the hell do we do now?_

  
_***_

  
_Apparently, the answer to that question was 'hey let's have a mutiny in Fort Summers!" No, I am not kidding._

_We managed to get everyone home by about 7 PM. 'Our' people didn't join them at Revello Drive but we went home instead where we have now packed up our bags and are resting up. I'm the designated first shift so I can get a full night's sleep, without interruptions, so I'm taking the opportunity to vent here._

_Because seriously, what the hell is Riley and Giles doing? I mean sure, Buffy being gone the entire day and then returning at 8 with a new plan. Instead of blindly charging into the Vineyards where several of their friends are still laying around dead and all she suggested we do, well, the very same thing again! She claimed that she and Angel had a hot tip of what Caleb was hiding there and that everyone should just suck it up(okay, my source may not be unbiased, I know for a fact that Kennedy doesn't like Buffy that much) and charge into the meat grinder again. They'd never expect it!_

_Well duh, off course they'd never expect it because it's stupid as hell. I think she's been taking strategic plans from General Melchett. Buffy Goes Forth indeed._

_But if the coup wasn't bad enough, they pretty much forced her to either step back and support the new leadership or get thrown out of her own home. I can't blame her for choosing to leave._

_Hold on, celliy_

  
_***_

  
_Have to wake up Faith, Buffy and Angel has found something and need our help._

  
_***_

  
_Okay, Buffy and Angel are now borrowing our bed(we've hidden all traces of our approaching relocation out of the city) and it's four in the morning while Tara and I are studying the freakiest ~~axe~~ scythe I've ever seen, or felt. Both Buffy and Faith agree, it's mystical in some way and tied to the Slayers, and both me and Tara feel something different when we touch it. It is magical, pure, and something we've never seen before._

_Caleb is still alive but he was pretty freaked when Buffy went all arthurian and pulled it out of the stone it was stuck in like it was warm butter. It's pretty damn effective, too. Buffy wiped the floor with three of those ubervamps in a few seconds once she got her hand on it._

_Celly_ _again? At this hour? Damn salesmen._

_Wait, Tara's too?_

  
_***_

  
_Okay, we're in the endgame now. Ella called, she's preparing a ritual with the seven other priestesses of the coven to transfer their power to me for the final battle. Which is tomorrow afternoon, apparently. I wonder if they have the rest of the schedule for the month because I AM GETTING PRETTY FREAKED OUT OVER HERE!_

_Tomorrow!_

_To make it even wiggy, Tara received a call at the very same time from the Devon coven. They'll do a similar ritual for her._

_I'm afraid we won't make it out of this next battle, this feels more and more like a one-way trip._

_Tara's asleep now, I'll be joining her soon as I hear Faith stirring for her shift. Nobody is sleeping well tonight._

  
***

  
"Hey Red, any news about Buffy's newest toy? Does it come with different vibrating settings or is it manual work only?"

Willow groaned overdramatically to cover the smile that was developing. She was far too tired to not appreciate Faith's crude humor.

"It's as they say, scythe matters. Eh? Eeeeeh?"

Faith flipped her the bird and got a mocking stuck-out tongue in response.

"Really Faith, is that how you act towards your friends? I raised you far better than this?"

They both turned towards the sound. It was the exact visage of mayor Richard Wilkins the third. Well, the first two as well since he was immortal but the facts didn't change, the First Evil had finally returned to terrorize them.

"Red? You do realize the pot is mine now, don't you?"

Willow needed a few seconds to realize what she meant before she understood and adopted a nonchalant front.

"Yeah, you won the bet. You know, I really expected this poor excuse of Patrick Swayze to be a bit more creative."

"Now now, girls. Gambling is a vice, you both know better than that. And really, since when are you two friends? Last I remember my little Faith held a pretty large blade to your throat as she was helping me ascend. And you, Rosenberg. You proved to be quite a bit of a thorn to my plans. Trying to hack into my files and then damage really old books, that's just not proper behavior at all? Where were your parents when you grew up, I've eaten street urchins with better manners than you had. But then, I guess that addiction problem wasn't as outlandish as one would think, considering your history. But then, what do you expect when you've decided become an abomination, Faith? And not the good kind, either. I swear, sometimes it feels like you're misinterpreting my message on purpose, Faith."

Faith sighed. "Really, that's the best you got? Yeah, I killed people and hurt her and yes, she knows I also knew about the tool hit squad you sent after her, big deal."

Willow nodded. "Yeah, and Faith knows about the horrible things I've done, to her and others. And, for the record, last time my mother got involved in my life she tried to burn me at the stake. With your approval. So her involvement wouldn't really had been a positive influence on my developing years."

The Mayor's image got blurry and was replaced with Buffy's.

"Okay then, Will. How about this. You've lost. The war is already over, you just won't realize it yet. Your army was defeated while my main force wasn't even brought to the battlefield. Less than four dozen remain of your so mighty host and what remains is crippled, demoralized and suffer from infighting. My envoy is unkillable and you're celebrating finding an old woodcutter, hoping one weapon would change anything? Watch me quake in my cute little boots while my army is marching to your doom. Your girls are weak, only few of you could ever do any damage and all. All the strongest of you will be able to do is survive to watch as my hordes feast on the weak."

Willow froze. She finally found the connection to what she had heard and what she knew.

"...all that I saw was hateful of ours, from beneath you, it devours."

The fake Buffy smugly turned towards her. "So, someone finally got the full line of the phrase? Only took a thousand years to make the connection."

Willow hadn't just connected it to a single line, she finally got the full stanza of the verse. She looked at the visage and locked eyes with it.

_"Hverfa."_

The First Evil faded away with a grin, unknowing of what it had left behind. It had left an inspired and angry young witch.

A witch that knew something the First Evil didn't.

She knew they'd win.


	14. March 24, 2003

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Guardian, the Preacher and the Beginning of the End

**H Minus 4.5 hours**

"So, me and B are gonna go down this tomb here and meet someone? This tomb that's been here all this time but we've never checked out despite the unique shape and the fact that we spend all our times in graveyards?"

Buffy groaned at Faith in annoyance even if she did think that she had a point. Still, she had to keep up their dynamic or it'd be just weird.

"Yup. This is the one."

Buffy looked at the tomb again and then turned to Willow.

"But, why? You said you had a plan to what, 'activate' the Scythe?"

Willow shrugged apologetically. "It doesn't have any markings. Would it be so hard to include a little sticker? 'Hello. My name is Blank of the Blankthuselah, consult operating instruction before wielding.' I did, however, find some things that directed me directly to this very tomb with that very symbol."

She pointed to a small marking on top of the door to the tomb, a marking that was very obviously an etching of the Scythe that Buffy was holding.

"Hey B? We dumb!"

Buffy couldn't help but laugh a little bit as the pair moved into the tomb. "You guys coming?"

Willow shook her head and returned to the rest of the inhabitants of House Lehane. Angel was still at the apartment as it was still early that cloud-free day.

"Slayer only party, from what I understood. Go get some answers and we'll wrap this up by lunchtime! Go on, we're on the clock here ladies!"

She knew nobody believed her overly upbeat attitude. Even if they'd win, people would die. A lot of people. Maybe most, if not all, of them. Except Tara. Tara would not die. Things looked a bit more positive after they confirmed with Lorne that everyone they had gotten to sing got the A-OK stamp. Even if he did rain on their parade by mentioning that events such as this often have a tendency to gunk up his readings.

For now, they'd stand guard while the Chosen Two went down the tomb for some answers.

  
***

  
**H Minus 3.5 hours**

The door to Fort Summers slammed open and Angel ran through, covered by a comically large umbrella. Behind him came Buffy with the Scythe and then Faith who was carrying a black garbage back, both Slayers covered in dirt and grime. One by one they joined by Dawn, Amanda, Tara, Willow, Wesley, Lorne and Fred.

The main area of the room quickly filled up with the inhabitants of Fort Summers and both Riley and Giles moved up to the front.

"What is going on Buffy? Faith? Were you attacked at the apartment?"

Buffy kept the Scythe behind her, letting Faith start the presentation as they had discussed on the way to the Fort Summers that was sorely lacking in any Summers. She held out the garbage bag with both hands.

"See here, G-Man, we've gotten stuff done. Instead of sitting here with usurped power and our collective thumbs up our asses some of us went to pick up the weapon that priestly tool was guarding. B, could you bring up your presentation for the show-and-tell?"

Buffy smiled and held out the Scythe and Willow stepped up to continue.

"This is the Scythe, a mystical Slayer weapon that is a conduit for all Slayer's essence. It's also the weapon that will win us the war, Giles."

Dawn crossed her arms and nodded.

"Yeah. Not only did Caleb back away when my sis got her hands on it but she took out a bunch of the Turok-Han in a couple of seconds. Not that it's the reason it'll win us the war though, just a happy side effect."

Riley interrupted, clearly uninterested in the mythology and only curious as to what the Scythe brings to the battlefield.

"So what, you let that Caleb man go? What stops him from just sending more Bringers here and take this axe from us?

That's when Faith decided to turn the garbage bag over, directing it towards Riley's feet. The room was filled with shrieks and groans as they found the decapitated head of the First's envoy landing in a puddle of black blood. Buffy waited for the room to calm down before finally speaking up, making sure they all knew that she was taking back control of their army.

"No, because we finish what we started. And right now, I'm about to tell you how we'll finish this war. And we are finishing it, together. And we're doing it _today_."

  
***

  
**H Minus 3 hours**

The smaller group that consisted of those with enough clout to claim a place at the planning stage had conferred and now they'd gathered everyone from both households. This was it, the final push to end this war.

The city had been completely evacuated by now. Demon, vampires and humans alike had felt that what was coming would not be in their best interest. Only roughly forty humans, one ensouled vampire and one demon of the Deathwok Clan still remained in the city. Together with thousands of Turok-Han in the Hellmouth and an unknown number of Harbingers cultists spread out in the city.

Buffy took the stand.

"Okay everyone. This is the final push, the battle to end this infernal war. We got a plan, and it's a sound one. Willow was told of a prophecy several months ago, one of how we would win this war, and I made the mistake of ignoring it. However, with the information we've gathered so far and the knowledge we have, we now know what to do."

She flipped over a whiteboard stolen from a nearby preschool and it showed the rough outline of the plan.

"We'll move to the school in almost exactly two hours and thirty minutes. When we get there, the House of Sappho will set up in Wood's office to prepare a ritual. In the meantime, we'll split our forces by gender. The men will protect the flanks on the surface, making sure we're not surrounded by the Harbingers and taking out all of the Turok-Han who manage to push through us. And trust me, they will. We're facing several thousand of the toughest vampires this world has ever seen. And we'll beat them."

She pointed towards a lineup of three different squads, all men. "Each squad will protect their assigned position to the last man. No retreat, no recovery. Squad one consist of Jonathan, Xander, Wood and Angel. You'll protect the Lounge, their primary target. If they get through you they'll be able to get to the science building and then we'll lose them. Squad two will be Connor, Lorne, Riley and Gunn covering the north hall. Third squad is going to be Smithstone, Giles, Graham and Wesley. They'll be covering the Atrium. Large-open spaces mean that you'll be able to get off a few quick salvos of magic and bolts before they get close. Riley, Giles and Angel will lead the squads. Arm yourself with weaponry you're used to but carry at least one backup each and bring something for the ubervamps. Holy water is all but useless, same with crosses. Sunlight, stakes and beheadings only."

Riley frowned. He'd been sour ever since the planning meeting ended where he got overruled by unanimous opposition, including his wife, when he tried to force his way into the main squad. They'd let him be in charge of a squad, feeding his ego a bit after the hit it had just taken, but being overshadowed by roughly two dozen untrained girls stung more than he'd admit.

"Now for the main force. We're a total of twenty-seven women here. We'll be divided into three groups of nine, except for group one that'll only have five as four of the girls will perform the ritual before they join us. Squad one will be the center and will consist of Amanda, Justine, Fred, Josefin and Maria. Don't worry, as soon as the ritual is over you'll be reinforced by two extremely powerful witches, one experienced if incredibly reckless Slayer and a stubborn kid who refuse to stay safe." Both Faith and Dawn protested, loudly, but accepted the jests in grace. "Second squad is the left flank. That's me, Vi, Chao-Ahn, Shannon, Soledad and you four." She pointed at four girls she never learned the name of. She had, however, made sure to learn each Potential's combat ability and put it to good use when forming the squads. "Third squad is the left flank. Kennedy, you take Rona, Sam, Caridad, Dominique and the last four girls and you hold that damn line."

Kennedy then asked the question that everyone rued the answer for. "Hey Buffy, where are we going to deploy?"

Buffy stood tall, Scythe in hand.

"We'll be opening the Hellmouth and then go down and face the First Evil's hordes face on."

The room erupted in protests, as well as some expressions of satisfaction, before Buffy took word again.

"Don't worry, the ritual will ensure that we'll not only hold the lines but that we'll win this war, once and for all.

"Uhh, what the hell is this ritual you keep referring to, boss?" Rona asked, reminding Buffy that not everyone was part of the planning stage.

"Oh, right, the ritual. Forgot to explain that one. What Will and Tara will be doing is using the Scythe, the conduit of all-both in the past and those not yet activated-Slayers, to activate every single Potential in the world. They'll drain the Hellmouth of some of it's power and use it to release the power of the Slayer onto the world, changing the balance of power back to the side of good. No longer shall one single Slayer stand against the innumerable hordes of untold dimensions. We'll stand tall, together, and drive them back from our world."

  
***

  
**H minus 10 minutes**

The last two hours was a blur. Xander and Gunn collected a pair of old school buses and everyone loaded them up with a bag each of personal supplies, except for the House of Sappho who used the truck, Gunn and Angel who used his Impala as well as Wesley, Fred, Amanda and Lorne who used Wesley's old sedan.

With only twenty minutes to go, they deployed at the closed Sunnydale High School. Wood unlocked the doors and everyone hurried to their positions, armed and prepared for the fights of their lives.

In the Principal's Office, Willow and Tara quickly set up their supplies and placed the Scythe in the middle of the magic circle. Faith joined them on the floor and put both of her hands on the Scythe. She was joined by one hand each of the witches who held each other with the free hands.

Willow would drain power from the Hellmouth and funnel it through her. At the same time, she'd use Faith's power as a Slayer and run both sources through the Scythe. Tara's job was to actively purify Willow while she directly channeled the darkest of magic through her spirit, ensuring that she wouldn't end up an empty husk. Dawn was their guard, their Shieldmaiden. She stood, spear activated, and had a small dagger strapped to her left wrist.

As the ritual began, the office started to glow. They heard sounds of a large amount of shuffling feet and knew the Harbingers were approaching the topside squads. Then, with a silent bang that was heard around the world, they changed everything. All around the world, women were Chosen-activated-and in total over two thousand around the world suddenly became part of the Slayer line for real.

That included the women beneath the school. And those girls, Slayers, were in trouble. The flanks held strong but the middle was slowly falling back, suffering from the lack of power. Everyone knew that Josefin, Amanda and Maria would have a hard time anchoring the line but when reinforcements arrived they'd be stronger than any other part of the force.

When the glow faded, Tara had turned into her angelic counterpart. Faith called for Dawn, who hadn't met any resistance, and she fell back to the other three girls.

"It's time to take us downstairs, Shieldy."

Willow collapsed. "No. You three go, I'll join you as soon as I can. Don't worry, I got this keeping me safe."

She took out the Doll's Eye Crystal necklace that she used when she first left the Summers residence over a year ago and smiled, the protective magics would make her all but invisible to both types of warriors the First Evil employed.

Tara reluctantly nodded her agreement to the change of tactics and Dawn used her dagger to open a small wound on her arm and moments later they disappeared in a green glow.

Seconds after that, everything started to spin.

"I'm sorry Tara. I'm so very sorry."

And the world turned completely black.


	15. The Soliloquy of Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dreams of the Lost, Ride of the Valkyrie and a Pyrrhic Victory

_As soon as Willow had blacked out, she awoke again - stirred to action. Not in the office, or the school. Not even in Sunnydale or in the same dimension. She was in a void, sensing nothing but the eternal emptiness. And she felt fear._

_"Yup, figured that this is where I'd end up. Didn't die in battle, hasn't been virtuous and I'm pretty sure I'm not baptized. Crap."_

_A faint sound of a bubble popping forced her to make a startled jump before she turned around. "...miss Calendar?"_

_Jenny smiled in response, not looking a day older than the last time they had met back in Junior grade._

_"Actually, yes. I know many Powers That Be butting in and other players like to use friendly forms to promote a false sense of security but I'm the real thing, accept no substitute teachers! Except you, obviously."_

_Willow hesitated for a moment. "If you're miss Calendar, why did you mention in your notes that Oz wasn't right for me?"_

_She laughed. "Please, call me Janna. If you've been reading my notes and other private texts then I think we're pretty close by now, Willow. And the reason I thought Oz was wrong for you was because you were so very obviously a very tiny baby gay Willow." Janna offered a comforting smile to show her best intention. "I'm not even a 'sister' but even I saw that flashing with neon letters from miles away. Besides, was I wrong?"_

_Willow blushed and smiled sadly._

_"No, you were right. Still, I never got my lesbidar to work so well with others. Took far too long to realize she felt the same for me, or even that I felt what I do for her. Oz is still important to me, despite everything, but Tara is everything to me now and forever, without question."_

_Janna nodded. "Soulmates usually are. You do know there's a better name for that, though? Tara seems great, she's really important to a lot of people. I mean I fell in love with Rupert, and I would've like to see where that went if my past hadn't put a stop to everything, but sometimes you don't get to pick your end."_

_Willow's face fell. "Tell me about it. Didn't think I'd spend eternity in limbo just yet. I just hope the spell was worth it, that Tara got out and they all beat that First Bastard."_

_Janna shook her head. "The battle isn't over yet. And you're not dead, by the way. Probably should've opened with that bit."_

_Willows eyes grew wide. "Wait, what? If you're dead and talking to me in the Void, shouldn't I be dead too?"_

_Janna started pacing. "No, not really. It's a Void to you because you've blocked off your subconscious in order to control the nightmares. I'm not gonna say that's a bad thing, what your brain did to you after Rack and Amy's torture is not something I'd wish on anyone. Not to mention the mental trauma from your years as a child soldier, the neglect and the solitude. You really underestimate how must mental fortitude you possess to be able to survive all that."_

_"You mean, I can see Tara again? And Faith, and Dawn?" Willow tried her best to not get her hopes up but saw her efforts be in vain as the crushing despair started to dissolve, making room for a glimmering spark of faith._

_"Yes. But first, I need you to know one thing before you go back. It's why I was sent here, after all. And before you ask, I didn't waste any of your time or put your family in danger. When you wake up it'll be just when you receive the support from Ella and her friends, time passes differently here." Janna's expression grew stern as she continued. "But, to be able to accept their power you must open your mind to the dreamlands again."_

_Willow staggered as if struck with a large maul and turned her back. "I can't. It's just too much, I can't handle the horrors that I have sealed away, not anymore."_

_Janna put her hand on Willow's shoulder. "There's magic everywhere, Willow. Everyone has some kind of magic in them. It's what fuel our creativity, our willpower, our spirits, our dreams. If you cut yourself off from your dreams you won't just be unable to create new art and songs but you won't be able to receive their gift, you won't be able to fully absorb the magic in the world. You won't be you, not completely._

_Willow looked into the eternal void for what felt like an eternity. There was no sound or any fragrance to create a sense of being. And then it hit her; it would be her future as long as she cut herself off from the dreamlands. She'd be what she feared for so long, she'd be UnWillow._

_Willow stepped up, closed her eyes and hugged her old computer teacher. "Thank you for everything. Even in death you helped me more than I could ever explain."_

_Janna kissed her forehead and whispered into her ear. "Just remember this; **Earth shall be riven, as will the over-heaven.** "_

_And then, around them, a kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, smells and feelings embraced her at once. It was heaven and it was hell and it was everything and nothing. It was the end of her Dark Disquiet. But, most of all, it was Willow._

When Willow opened her eyes again she was back in the office. The second after awakening, her body rose and she started to float a few feet above the floor. Her hair flowing free; giving the illusion of a roaring flame.

That's when she heard the panicked plea for aid from Tara in the back of her mind, soon echoed by her allies' cries of distress.

Then, her eyes turned crimson red. Willow was back, and the strength of the Valkyries came with her.

  
***

  
The eight women sat in a circle, each at the end of an arrow that protruded from the center of the circle like spokes on a wheel. In the middle sat a bowl of burning raven feathers cover in offered blood from each of the participants.

They heard the sounds of battle outside the chamber. The room was closed from the outside world with a large oaken door that was guarded by the only four soldiers the coven kept. They weren't a violent group and the country was a stable one but now they paid the price for their lack of vigilance. They knew that outside that door was a large amount of Harbingers of the First Evil who were trying the best to kill their friends and break down the door.

Even if they managed to finish the ritual, the power they lent to Willow would be lost as soon as they started dying. They had been in contact with the Devon coven doing a similar ritual for Willow's partner but they were guarded by mercenaries, loyal soldiers as well as some of the remaining Watchers. Tara should be safe during the battle.

Ella knew that they needed to enact the nuclear option. And, with the final line of the verse they could use it to its fullest degree.

"Plan Valkyria?"

One by one, the other seven priestesses nodded their approval. Ella began the chant and they joined in as one.

_"Thré stundum nío maer, men einn maer ridda fyrir_   
_Bleikr und hennar hjálmr, villi-eldr roddinn_   
_Jördd bifask, frän hennar ákafi_   
_Geisl nidher-slä undir helgrind_   
_Heill i Sunnudalr_   
_Happ gafs á kvenna frän thvi_   
_Allt at iak finna war leiddr av órr_   
_Undan ykkr, that matask"_

When the Bringers finally managed to bring down the barricaded door they only found the bodies of eight priestesses, gathered in a circle.

  
***

  
In the High School atrium, the three former watchers used the full knowledge of their training and experience to hold the cultists at bay. The first wave of attackers was consumed by magic fire. The second wave fell to a series of well-aimed crossbow bolts. It wasn't until the third wave that the cultists actually reached the four men. Had this been only four years ago, the English gentlemen would've fallen within minutes, but the years of chaos, death and continuous combat together with Graham's continued fire support kept them fighting for longer than anyone could've expected.

Years of experience and training had honed them. Giles was the oldest but his years of field time as well as his youthful indiscretions made him known as Ripper, a man that had struck fear in many villains over the years. The atrium held, but at great cost. Smithstone fell after a series of injuries sustained after the battle. There was no single one that ended him, it was simply the sum of his wounds that overcame his capacity to withstand them.

  
***

  
The Northern Hall was a slaughterhouse. Lorne might not have much experience or skill in combat but the other three were a force to be reckoned with. Riley kept the charging lines thinned out while Connor and Gunn waded into the opposing lines with a fervour that would scar a bystander for life. Connor in particular displayed a rabid rage that reminded Gunn of the most savage vampires he had ever seen, a comparison he was not going to take the risk in making.

Eventually, something broke with the son of Angel. He left all pretense of humanity and simply abandoned any interest in staying alive. He kept killing opponents even as he lost one of his arms and most of his jaw. When they left the corridor they couldn't even find the body under the pile of cultist remains.

  
***

The Lounge was set up for a siege. Xander provided covering fire for Wood and Angel who fought side-by-side to ensure the containment of the First's armies. The pair had bonded over the last few days over their unified hatred of Spike and had formed some kind of grudging respect as brooding warriors against evil. Wood tried to keep up with Angel, eager to prove that he was his equal, but his body could not keep pace with his will. He fell soon after the barriers stopped coming, his reflexes not able to cover all avenues of attack. With him ended the family line of the Slayer Nikki Wood.

Jonathan wasn't on the level of Willow, Tara or even Amy but he had some experience and an intense will to redeem himself in the eyes of his allies. He spent the battle putting up barriers and reloading Xander's crossbows until suddenly he just stopped. When Xander turned around to his fallen friend he saw a Bringer's dagger in Jonathan's side but not the assailant himself. Apparently, Jonathan had been struck several minutes before but kept quiet, suffering the wound in silence until the final remains of his power was spent in the Good Fight and he went into the unspoken history as a martyr to Earth.

  
***

In the Hellmouth, Tara did her best to provide both protection and strengthened endurance for her allies but the center kept losing ground. Dawn and Faith never left her side, ensuring that as long as she had any magic reserves she would be able to keep fighting. Pure magic was strong, provided straight from the Earth itself, but within the Hellmouth it was weakened and she had to draw from further away strains. Those closer to her had been corrupted by the Hellmouth.

After Amanda fell and Justine followed suit soon thereafter, defending the sweet young girl to her very end, Dawn lost her focus. Losing her best friend in such a brutal way shook her to the core and Fred had to pull her back from the front to recover. Maria and Josefin closed ranks to fill the gap but soon after Maria was run through by the claws of a Turok-Han. As Josefin moved to protect her badly bleeding friend, the enemy pushed to overrun the center. Tara could do nothing but magically reach out for her lover's spirit as she prepared for the end.

But the end never came. Fifteen meters above her the roof of the Hellmouth shone as if a series of red flares had been lit. Willow materialized into existence, teleporting directly from the office after she recovered and was sent the final lifeforce of her annihilated coven, and she brought with her the fury of all those the Harbingers had slaughtered the last year.

She continued to hover in the air, slowly approaching the ground where Tara and their friends kept fighting. From her back she sprouted large wings of fire and her red hair almost looked like it was a blazing torch as well. From each hand she released thick beams of flames, cleansing the battlefield of the Turok-Han as she continuously shifted targets to create a gap between the constantly charging enemy and her besieged allies.

The left flank under Buffy had suffered the most. Only Buffy herself, the introverted Soledad and Vi were still standing. The other six slayers all laid dead on the ground and Buffy used the Scythe to her best advantage to ensure the rest of them wouldn't join the league of the dead.

On the right flank, Kennedy and Sam was doing a bit better. They had suffered the least from the attacks, using a defensive stance to protect Sam who was using a Bulldog grenade launcher with incendiary grenades where the enemy lines were the thickest. The grenades were now depleted, however, and Sam was forced to move up to the front line with the rest of them. Now she was suddenly at a disadvantage despite her military training. Of their group, only Rona and Dominique had fallen.

That's when the First returned in the form of Buffy. She materialized in front of Tara and didn't even say anything. She just grinned at the witch with pity, as if she couldn't understand why the gnat kept trying to fight the elephant. She motioned for a large contingent of vampires to charge her position but soon realized that the other witch wouldn't let anything get close to her partner.

"So, you're the Valkyrie then, Will? I didn't realize you had the entire verse of the chant all figured out. It doesn't matter though, your entire gathering of nordic fools has been wiped out. Nothing remain of your coven anymore, it's going the way of the dodo. You're probably all that's left so why don't you just surrender and take Caleb's position at my side?"

Faith moved up behind her and ran Hope's Dagger through the heart of the First.

"I'm sorry, she's taken. Besides, I got all I need over here. Faith, Hope and Love."

The First glared at her as it lost its incorporeal form. When it was completely gone legendary blade known as Hope's Dagger disintegrated and the Turok-Han turned rabid. Faith signalled for a retreat while Willow landed next to Tara. They both knew that they wouldn't outrun the crazed vampires and that they needed to buy time for the others who were fleeing back up to the surface. Willow turned to Faith, the sole living Slayer of those that remained in the Hellmouth.

"Faith, it's time to go. We'll be fine here, just take Dawn and run." Faith opened her mouth in protest but didn't get the chance to speak. "Just trust me, we'll be fine, okay? We'll see you topside."

Faith ran, tears in her eyes. She ran as fast as she could while the Hellmouth started to collapse into itself.

Behind her, the girls entangled their hands and while Tara kept the protective barrier up, Willow shot a lance of light into the roof above them. It took several seconds for the Hellmouth to react but then, the skies opened. The hole grew and the roof fell down around them, crushing all that remained of the Turok-Han. Those that tried to flee were consumed by the intruding sunlight and the few who tried to attack the witches in defiance of their imminent deaths were evaporated upon the barrier that Tara maintained.

Suddenly, the floor below them started to shake as well. Within a few seconds, the ground where they had sat was no more.

  
***

  
It was a sorry group of survivors that gathered at the outskirts of what used to be Sunnydale. Nothing but a big crater remained of the city where many of them had spent the most important time of their lives.

Of all 39 who took part of the battle, only 23 remained alive. Maria died on one of the two evacuating school buses in the arms of her best friend Josefin, the soldier Graham died when a chunk of the school's roof crushed him in a fall. The sun had began to set, it was as if it decided to rest after helping finish off the vampire army just minutes before, and Angel began to prepare a burial for the only fallen warrior that they had any remains of. He was soon joined by Xander, Vi and a few others who prepared makeshift memorials out of the packed bags of the fallen. They used a nearby tourist board to put up pictures of those that had died, including some that died in the months before such as Chloe, Annabelle and Molly.

It was a quiet and somber short few minutes. Everyone acted without instruction or communication. Two who didn't take part was Faith and Dawn. Dawn had recovered from seeing Amanda's fall but was now frantically looking for her former foster parents, panic quickly returning to the back of her mind.

"Fay... Fay. Where's Will? Where's Tara? Fay, why aren't they with you in the truck? Fay?"

Faith couldn't answer. She still sat behind the wheels of the truck, having escaped by herself as Dawn was led to one of the busses by Buffy as they were fleeing the city. She turned to Dawn and was about to tell her what happened when she heard a faint sound of wind whipping into clothes. She looked out of the window of the truck at the sky, searching for the source.

A few seconds later and she was joined by Dawn, then Buffy, then several others.

Then, a red streak of light rose in the darkness from the remains of Sunnydale and raced towards them. Within a few seconds, Willow landed, carrying Tara, and soon after her wings of fire faded into nothingness. Dawn and Faith rushed up to them and embraced them both, hard.

Even Faith could use an exception to her No Hugs Principle every now and then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue tomorrow, stay tuned.


	16. Summer of 2003, Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memorials, Road Tripping, and a New Order

The gathered survivors of the War against the First Evil stood by Maria's grave, heads bowed as Tara ended the short makeshift wake. Two rocks were left on the magically cut grave marker, one smooth and unchanged and another that Willow had painted the Catalan flag on in recognition of Maria's home.

"...and we supplicate the Gods, Goddesses and other kind spirits to guide our friends and family lost today to the afterlife. Be it the Summerlands, Valhalla, Folkvangr, Heaven or the transmigration of the souls, please find the way for our brave friends who laid down their lives to protect this world from the oldest of Evil. So mote it be, blessed be."

Only Willow and Dawn knew to respond to the end of the prayer and did so. The crowd remained still in the darkness until Buffy moved up to where Tara stood, soon getting the attention she silently asked for.

"Thank you, Tara. Now, we're standing here in the growing cold and it's time to plan for the future. I know, we're all exhausted beyond end but we need to find a place to sleep or we'll be cold, tired and hungry very soon. Fortunately Giles, Angel and I were discussing how we'd go from here. Angel?"

The dark man kept his pained expression that he held ever since they had stopped the bus. Few had seen him do any public display of emotion but not even he could completely prevent the grief from the death of his son from breaking out. Still, he took word despite the pain.

"I still own the Hyperion Hotel in Los Angeles until the end of March. We'll all go there, rest up and resupply for a few days before we move on to our next destination."

Murmurs spread through the crowd even as some were elated they had a place to stay, at least temporarily. Kennedy spoke up.

"Wait, next destination? Where are we going then, didn't we close this Hellmouth and end the war? What gives?"

Buffy held her hand up to silence the crowd.

"The war is over, yes, but the war against that which go bump in the night is never over. Thousands of girls have been called today and we need to organize them. We need gather and recruit them into a new, reinforced Watcher's Council. We need to be prepared!"

Some protested at the idea, loudly, but none more so than Soledad. She had been a loner since she arrived from Los Angeles a few weeks ago and continuously clashed with Buffy and Giles when it came to taking orders. "Screw that! I'm coming with you to LA but after that, I'm on my own. I'll keep me and mine safe in my own way, I don't need some stuck-up guys from Europe to tell me how to punch evil!"

She got a couple of exclamations in support but most of the surviving Slayers seemed to favor Buffy's idea of a common goal and direction. A heated discussion broke out until they agreed on a compromise. As the girls were moving the baggage between the two buses, Wesley and Fred came to the truck to say their goodbyes to the Outlaws.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Dawn. Amanda was a great girl and we are all worse off by not having her around anymore. I was looking forward to try to guide and aid her growth into a strong young woman and I mourn what'll never be."

Dawn offered a sad smile over Fred's shoulder as they were hugging each other in support.

"I'm sorry for you as well. She had a rough time of it but she died fighting, a warrior to the end. You know, she told me the other day she was getting curious in Will's rites and beliefs and I'm sure she would've enjoyed her time in Valhalla."

Willow smiled gently and leaned her head on Dawn's shoulder.

"Is it is one thing my deities respect, it's intent and bravery. If she wished to spend time in the Halls of the Einherjar, I am certain she is there right now. I would think, from the little I knew of Mandy, she's in Folkvangr with Freyja instead of Valhalla. It's less 'eternal battle until Ragnarök' and more 'hey let's eat, drink and fight when you feel like it but otherwise be merry and take your well-earned rest'."

Dawn seemed happy with that. She knew little of Willow's beliefs and of the afterlife she mostly knew of Valhalla, as most others. "What decides where you go when you fall in battle then?"

"Well, the fallen decides. If you die bravely and with a virtuous spirit, be it battling a demon, corruption, cancer or addiction, then you go to where your paradise is. If you go to Folkvangr, your spirit is carried there by the Valkyries. We don't call them the Chooser of the Slain for nothing!"

Faith grinned at Will's attempt to lift the spirit of her Shieldmaiden. Amanda's death had been just the last in a long line of losses that kept ruining Dawn's sense of safety and security. She turned back to Wesley.

"So, Princess Margaret, where are you and Freddie going? Back to LA to Champion in Angel's absence or are you retiring?"

Fred offered a sad smile and shrugged.

"Both, actually. Well, kinda. Wes is going with Buffy and the rest to reform the Council but I'm done. I know I've been lucky but I can't do this anymore. Losing Cordy, Amanda, Connor and the rest is just too much. We almost lost all of you today. I am going back to academia and I'm going to live a normal life, I think I've deserved that by now."

Tara gave her a smile and a nod. "Sweetie, you've deserved that and so much more. You have our numbers, give us a call if you ever need our help or just want to talk, okay? You too Wesley. I hope you'll help make this Council better than what came before."

"That is both my purpose and hope, miss Maclay. I wish you all luck in the future." He looked over his shoulder as the trucks were finally finished with the reorganizing.

"Well, it's time to go our separate ways now. Dawn, you better run for that bag of mementos you gathered at your home. It's in the driver's seat of the left bus."

Dawn hurried away as Willow disentangled a piece of a branch from her hair.

"So, what's going to happen to the buses? All of you going to LA?"

Wesley nodded. "Yes. We're all going to the old Hotel to rest and recuperate for a couple of days. Soledad, Gunn, Lorne, Fred and the others who are leaving the group will split from there while those of us who are going to Cleveland to reform the Council will stay a little while longer."

Buffy moved up behind him and continued the debriefing.

"Don't you wanna come with us, Will? I think that Dawn would miss you two if you just left us."

The three girls looked at each other, nervously. The time had come to make their move.

"You see B, I'm not coming either. And Shieldy's coming with us for a wicked road trip."

Buffy's face darkened and her knuckles turned white. Dawn didn't notice as she moved to put her last bag into the bed of the covered pickup.

"Dawn, what the _hell_ is Faith talking about? Why do they think you'll be coming with _them?_ "

Dawn stood up tall, refusing to bend to Buffy's iron gaze.

"Because I am. I'm not a Slayer, I'm not a Watcher and I'm not your damn servant, a tool to be tossed aside until you change your mind."

"You are my sister though," Buffy hissed. "And I am your legal guardian."

"Actually, Buff, you're not. Not anymore." Willow handed over a notarized copy of a court decision with an apologetic smile. "As of four days ago, Dawnie is an emancipated teen. She is no longer under your jurisdiction."

Buffy looked over the paper. It seemed legit but the family court in Sunnydale had been shut down for a month. "This isn't real. How did you do this?"

Willow couldn't help but smile a little bit. "Well, it was Faith's idea really. She dusted the deciding judge the other day so we just backtracked the date a few days and I used their database to create the decision. See, even the witnesses' are real. They were dusted the same night as the judge."

"This won't hold, you know. You can't leave and then the courts will prove this is wrong."

Dawn growled at her at the insinuation.

"I'm sorry, sis. We love you but you're wrong there. You can't stop us, not now or ever. Your girls are too battered to try, even if they were your loyal stormtroopers. Which we both know they're not. And with the city and the records gone, it'll take you months to prove this is a forgery. Will did a really great job with it. And until then, we'll be long gone and who knows, maybe you won't even be able to prove it until after I'm 18 and what then?"

Before Buffy could lash out at them, Tara got in between the sisters.

"As Dawnie said, we love you. But this is her decision. She has been suffering for over a year and can't continue like that, none of you can. She is happy with Faith and we're all going to live our lives in safety, away from the evils of the night. We're retiring."

Buffy tried to protest, to threaten, to beg and to bribe the four girls as they prepared to leave. It wasn't until after they had said their goodbyes to Xander and Tara drove away, Willow waving to the group from the passenger seat of the truck, that Buffy realized that she had lost. Her sister was lost to her and she had practically driven her away.

It would be five months before they met again for the very last time.

***

  
Lorne sat back in his office chair and finished the last of the seabreeze. The last of the members of the new Watcher's Council had left LA a few days ago and his previously almost everlasting migraine was finally loosening its grip. He had retired, for real this time. Not as a prisoner of a megalomaniac Vegas pit boss but as the owner of his new and improved Caritas. A Switzerland in the City of Angels.

  
***

  
Gunn swung his hubcap axe widely and dusted the final pair of vampires before turning towards the crowd with a grin.

"I told you suckers that I'd be back with a vengeance. And really, your perimeter watch is shitty at best. Now, who do I have to suck up to for a cold one?"

What remained of his old crew would embrace him as one of their own, eventually. For now, he was just an honored guest, the prodigal son at best. But he was home.

  
***

  
"Welcome to the Ohio Instrumentation, Controls & Electronics Department, miss Burkle. We're very happy to have been chosen by someone with such an advanced pedigree and unique skillset. We hope the Cleveland State University will be able to live up to your expectations as we continue our progress into the future."

Fred smiled, finally back where she belonged.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll all be very happy together. Now, where's those energy field destabilizers?"

  
***

  
"Giles, you know fully well that you can't reform the Council just by saying so. There's both Watchers and Slayers out there who will not buck to your triumvirate just because you say so. You need to offer them something new, give them hope for a better future with the new Council!"

Giles groaned. Ever since they had set up the new headquarters in Cleveland he had been at odds with Wesley about the direction of the organization. They were of the same mind at times but where Giles advocated for the community of the Slayers and the strength they could find from their sisters, Wesley was more of an individualistic mind, preferring to focus on the growth of each Slayer on her own, to offer to prepare for a life outside the Slayer destiny if they so wished.

He poured them both another cup of tea knowing they wouldn't get anywhere soon on this subject either.

  
***

  
"Angel, have you seen the Buffster? The G-Man gave me these training schedules that he wanted her to sign off on before I went to Ottawa to check out the reports of a suspected Slayer."

The vampire shook his head. He saw Buffy more than most but she spent most of her time locked away, alone. He had always been afraid he'd be the one to pull her into the darkness, not the opposite, and he was growing afraid she'd never break out of this ennui that had engulfed her since she came back from the dead.

  
***

  
"Alright captain, we got a report of a young woman being attacked by five men with horrendous facial scarring. When the patrol arrived at the location the girl remained but her attackers were in the wind. She was armed with a machete of some sorts but when the officers at the scene asked for her to drop it she, well... She climbed the nearby drainpipe to the roof of the building nearby."

The Captain of the precinct scoffed but the lieutenant didn't budge.

"We got her description, she's about five-foot-eleven, of latino ethnicity with long black hair and green eyes, and have asked for local units to keep an eye out. She seems to be on steroids and adrenaline boosters and is a danger to herself and others."

  
***

  
"So, do you accept our terms miss Madison? Will you aid the Order of the Worthy in our crusade against the Blasphemer?"

Amy stood up slowly, her legs never having healed right after the last battle, and nodded.

"I accept these terms. But it's mrs Madison now. Try to keep that in mind, acolyte."

  
***

  
"So, Specialist Finn, you're telling me there was no single weapon or demon that completely swallowed an entire city, large enough to hold forty thousand inhabitants, but a pair of college girls using witchcraft?"

Riley nodded curtly in response.

"And there is nothing we got that can actually tie miss Rosenberg and miss Maclay to the destruction, leaving them legally untouchable for the right being?"

He nodded again.

"Jesus tapdancing Christ on a pogo stick, do you have any idea what kind of shitstorm I'm in with the people upstairs? There's reports of thousands of women around the globe suddenly developing superpowers, an private organization that's gathering and training them to fight HSTs without our input and then, on top of all that, we got rouge witches flying around on broomsticks and powerful enough to annihilate cities on American soil?"

He started to nod again but stopped himself.

"Well, to be fair sir. I'm pretty sure Tara and Willow can do a lot more than that if they put their mind to it. Willow is the same girl who helped Buffy Summers bring down both the Initiative and Walsh's rogue demonoid Adam. That couple have been responsible for more recorded mystical spikes the last three years than everyone else. We'd do better than to try to make them our enemies, if I may say so."

His commander groaned and fell back into his cushioned seat.

"And you are certain there is no chance of them joining our department or even becoming assets?"

Riley frowned. He had asked Willow, Faith and Tara that once a week before the Battle of the Hellmouth and the humiliating string of laughter that kept going for almost five minutes still stung.

"No sir, no chance at all. None of them really had much regard for authority. Or the military. Or order in any way, now that I think about it."

  
***

  
"Fay, you asleep?"

Faith kept her eyes closed but opened her arm to let Dawn fold into her lap as the truck continued down the deserted road.

"Nah, still awake. T still driving?"

Dawn nodded, their voices a quiet whisper as they didn't know if Willow was asleep yet.

"Good, you should get some sleep. Been a wicked long day for all of us."

Dawn smiled shyly. "I think you're right, Fay. GoodnightandIloveyou." She rushed out the last part almost inaudibly, unsure of how the often emotionally distant Slayer would react.

"I love you too, Dawn. Never dare to think otherwise, okay?"

"mmkay..." Within a few minutes they were both heavy asleep.

  
***

  
Willow glanced at the sleeping couple in the back seat before turning to the driver.

"So Tare, you're sure you don't want us to switch? You need to sleep sometime too! Well, some evenings you obviously don't but those evenings you're just handling my equipment and not a vehicle with passengers!"

Tara grinned and shook her head.

"No sweetie, I'm okay. Really, I'm still running on energy that linger after the coven boosted me. Besides, I'm the only one who know our first destination."

Willow suddenly realized she had no idea where they were going. She was just happy to start a new stage of her life.

"Oh? Where are we going then, baby?"

Tara turned to her and leaned in for a quick kiss.

"Sweetie, we're going home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for Chooser of the Slain. Thank you for reading and feel free to share, comment and kudos!
> 
> Part 3 is coming some day. Gonna need to rest my sore fingers for a bit, last two weeks have been kind of intense when it comes to writing.


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